London's Cellnovo, a maker of a diabetes monitoring system, has raised $48.4 million in a Series B financing led by Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners. The company will use the funds to commercialize its system and expand to markets. It plans to enter the UK market in early 2011 and the U.S. market later this year.
Cellnovo's system has three major parts: a small insulin patch pump, an iPod-like handset that contains a controller for an insulin pump and a blood glucose meter, and an online interface that allows patients, families and physicians to monitor the patient's status. The service requires a monthly charge but avoids the high up-front payments that typically accompany insulin pumps, making it more attractive to insurers.
"We thoroughly examined the diabetes field and believe that Cellnovo's approach to disease management is disruptive and will enable the company to soon leverage their tremendous market opportunity," said Bart Bergstein, Managing Partner, Forbion Capital Partners.
- here's the Cellnovo release
- read this article for more (.pdf)
ALSO: Palo Alto-based Glaukos Corp. has raised $29.5 million in a fifth round of venture capital funding to support development of a device that can be implanted to treat glaucoma. Meritech Capital Partners led the round. Report