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| Daktari Diagnostics reeled in $7 million to fuel growth, expand plant in Scotland to manufacture its portable HIV diagnostic.--Courtesy of Daktari |
Daktari Diagnostics reeled in another $7 million in equity financing, an amount likely to help fuel the company's overall expansion as well as the construction of a new plant in Scotland for its point-of-care HIV tests.
Mass High Tech/Boston Business Journal reports on the new funding round, which was disclosed in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. As the article notes, Daktari has some major people involved in its creation and development. Co-founder and CEO Bill Rodriguez used to serve as chief medical officer for the William J. Clinton Foundation. And co-founder Mehmet Toner is a professor of engineering at Harvard and MIT.
Back in April, Daktari announced it would spend $15 million to scale up a manufacturing plant in Scotland for its HIV tests. Plans call for hiring 126 people at the facility to make the test, which is in clinical testing in Africa.
Daktari raised $10 million back in 2011, led by Merck's ($MRK) Global Health Innovation Fund, Norwich Ventures and the Partners Innovation fund. The company is also developing tests for hepatitis and tuberculosis, with an eye on addressing unmet needs in emerging markets.
- read the MHT/BBJ article