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| MyDx Analyzer--Courtesy of CDx |
Startup CDx has raised its first institutional round of $6.9 million to market its portable chemical analyzer, MyDx. The device is intended to provide consumers with data about the chemicals in practically anything they are eating, drinking and breathing. So far, 105 investors are participating in the latest financing, which the company hopes will top out at $8 million.
This first financing comes about a year after a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo that raised $40,000--about twice what the seedling startup was aiming to collect. The company started out focused specifically on using the device to analyze the chemical properties of marijuana, thereby providing consumers a means to test the safety and potency of any cannabis sample.
In the wake of the rapid legalization of medical and recreational marijuana by many U.S. states, it's been tough for consumers to gauge the products that are now available given the relative lack of standardization and regulation.
CannaDx is a cannabis sensor that is compatible with MyDx; it's now one of four chemical analyzers that are compatible with the device. It's designed to detect cannabis compounds such as THC, CBD and other cannabinoid and Terpene ratios via a smartphone app. It then fits this data with a user-derived database of reported experiences with various chemical combinations.
The other sensors for MyDx are OrganaDx, which measures the amount of pesticide in foods; AquaDx, which tests the purity of water; and AeroDx, which assesses air quality.
The MyDx Analyzer is available for preorder with a $700 price tag via the company's website. CDx also sells accompanying sample inserts for $15 each. These are not designed for reuse. It also markets a separate CannaDx Sensor for $70 that is specifically for cannabis and needs to be replaced every 6 months.
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| CDx CEO Daniel Yazbeck |
CDx founder and CEO Daniel Yazbeck is the head of Yazbeck Investment Group, a marijuana-focused investment firm that provided seed backing for CDx. He was previously a senior scientist at Pfizer ($PFE) specializing in chemical R&D technologies. Yazbeck also has worked for Panasonic, heading up its consumer electronics business development activities in healthcare.
The MyDx device uses nanotechnology to measure chemicals of interest in almost any solid, liquid or gas. Its form factor allows it to be used by the consumer anywhere or anytime. The technology it's based upon is in-licensed from the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Yazbeck said in an interview with CannaInsider.
"What we've done is we've basically taken the same concept that a human nose or a dog's nose has, which it's got many sensors on the surface of the nose. And then those sensors react differently to different smells, and then they generate a pattern," Yazbeck said in that interview.
He continued, "All we did was we created sensors--an array of sensors on a digital board that will read the response of those sensors towards different chemicals that present. And we analyze that sensor's response with very highly sensitive, low-noise, circuitry in terms of the electronics that will read the sensors based on what you just exposed them to, and they're sniffing with palm part ... we basically built an electronic nose that sniffs chemicals and tells you what's in based on the other end, which is pattern recognition, algorythyms, data, big data."
- here is the SEC filing
- for the CannaInsider interview