MedLumics closes $4.7M Series A round

Medical imaging diagnostics company MedLumics has closed a €3.5 million ($4.7 million) Series A financing round led by Ysios Capital Partners and "la Caixa." The funds will be used to complete the development of the company's next generation Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) platform and to recruit members for its executive and technical teams.

MedLumics, which began operations in Spain in 2009, is using OCT, an imaging technique that provides sectional information about tissue with high resolution. The technique doesn't harm patients, as it uses optical waves to study tissue, the company notes on its website. Furthermore, it has found widespread acceptance in ophthalmology and is experiencing growth in other fields, including intravascular imaging in cardiology, dermatology and dentistry. However, current OCT technology is delivered with relatively large, costly, stationary systems that require ongoing calibration and maintenance.

The company is looking to address these issues by integrating the optical and electrical OCT components in a compact microchip-based system that can produce diagnostic images with a tissue penetration capability of up to 2 millimeters. The technology is designed to allow physicians to perform a non-invasive optical "digital biopsy," thus avoiding damage to vulnerable structures, reducing procedure time and eliminating the invasiveness of conventional biopsy tissue sample extraction. Initial applications for the platform technology will focus on dental implantology and intravascular imaging in cardiology, as well as other medical specialties that have diagnostic needs not yet addressed by first generation OCT systems.

"The Series A financing is a major achievement for MedLumics that aligns us with top-tier life science investment partners who believe in the tremendous potential of our microchip-based OCT technology," said Eduardo Margallo Balbás, founder and CEO of MedLumics, in a statement. "We believe this investment speaks to the exceptional clinical value it will ultimately bring to physicians and patients."

- check out the MedLumics release