Medical Monitor Device Start-Up Raises $7M in Venture Funds

Rama Mukkamala (Michigan State University)

Retia Medical, a medical device company in East Lansing, Michigan, raised $7 million in series A funds, the first round of financing after initial start-up. The Pritzker/Vlock family office, a private equity company investing in biotech, industrial and medical equipment, and technology businesses led the round.

Retia Medical develops monitors for high-risk patients, starting with monitors of cardiac output that indicate the flow rate of blood pumped by the heart. The current standard of care for monitoring cardiac output is the invasive pulmonary artery catheter.  Less invasive technologies exist but are not considered accurate when patients go unstable.

The Retia system to monitor cardiac output and other key measures of the cardiovascular system is less invasive than current monitors, yet can still accurately indicate if patients go into shock. The monitor connects to existing radial arterial catheters, which the company says are routinely placed in high-risk patients. The device offers early detection of changes in cardiac output by processing existing peripheral blood pressure signals through a company-developed algorithm. That algorithm models blood circulation and accounts for beat-to-beat variations in the blood pressure signal.

Proceeds from the financing round are expected to enable Retia to complete product development and submit regulatory filings for the device. The company estimates that at least 15 million surgical patients and 3 million intensive care patients worldwide could benefit from accurate and less-invasive cardiac output monitoring. The devices will be marketed initially to hospitals with intensive care units and surgical facilities.

The technology behind the Retia Medical system is the product of research conducted by Michigan State University engineering professor Rama Mukkamala (pictured at top), a co-founder of the company. Mukkamala’s research interests are biomedical signal processing and identification, modeling of physiologic systems, and cardiovascular physiology. Retia Medical licensed the technology from Michigan State and MIT.

Read more:

• Trial Tests Non-Invasive Glucose Monitor in Surgery Patients
• $2.6B Venture Fund Aims for Health Care, Energy Companies
• VC Funding Cut for U.S. Firms, Science Companies Take Hit
• Technology Developed to Diagnose, Treat Atrial Fibrillation
• Non-Invasive Hemoglobin Anemia Screening System Unveiled

Hat tip: Fortune/Term Sheet

*     *     *