Networked Defibrillator Gains $22M in Early Funds

(Gerd Altmann, Pixabay)

16 Mar. 2022. A company creating a networked community defibrillator device for people suffering cardiac arrest is raising $22 million in its first venture round. Avive Solutions Inc., a five year-old enterprise in San Francisco, plans to offer a wireless, connected automated external defibrillator, or AED, to speed responses by health care workers and bystanders.

Avive Solutions aims to put life-saving AED technology in more hands throughout communities to help people experiencing sudden cardiac arrest in homes, offices, and elsewhere. Sudden cardiac arrest occurs when the heart stops beating, and blood stops flowing to the brain and other organs. Death can occur if not treated within minutes. A defibrillator helps restore a normal heartbeat by sending an electric pulse or shock into the heart. AED devices are appearing in more public places to treat people suffering from sudden cardiac arrest, with instructions for use by untrained bystanders.

Avive Solutions designed its device as a stand-alone AED, but it also connects to emergency response networks. When installed in workplaces, schools, churches, or gyms, the device gives instructions for bystander use, but also connects to 9-1-1 to alert first responders, and send incident and location data to speed response. The Avive Solutions AED can be installed in homes as well, and used to assist neighbors suffering cardiac arrest.

AED treatment within four minutes

According to Avive Solutions, the Food and Drug Administration is reviewing the device and has not yet authorized it for sale in the U.S. Nonetheless, the company is recruiting communities to take part in a program called 4-Minute City, to put enough AED devices throughout their populations so no person experiencing cardiac arrest is more than four minutes away from a defibrillator. According to the company, average emergency medical response times are eight to 12 minutes, increasing the risk of death from cardiac arrest. So far, says Avive Solutions, Jackson, Tennessee and Cumberland County, Pennsylvania are taking part in the program.

Company co-founders Rory Beyer and Moseley Andrews first developed their connected AED technology as undergraduate engineering students at MIT, joined by co-founder Sameer Jafri who also leads the Saving Hearts Foundation, an advocacy group for sudden cardiac arrest. Jafri is Avive Solutions’ CEO, while Beyer and Andrews are chief operating and chief technology officers respectively.

“Avive is changing the paradigm of response to cardiac arrest emergencies through our connected platform,” says Jafri in a company statement released through Cision. “By getting lifesaving automated external defibrillator, AED, technology in the hands of bystanders who can provide immediate help when and where it’s needed, and facilitating closer collaboration with emergency responders and health care providers, we believe our vision for a more streamlined system of care can greatly improve the odds of survival.”

Avive Solutions is raising $22 million in its first full venture founding round, led by Questa Capital, Catalyst Health Ventures, and earlier investor Laerdal Million Lives Fund. Other participants in the round are not disclosed. According to Crunchbase, the company raised $11.5 million in three installments between Dec. 2018 and June 2020.

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