Aktiia, a Swiss-US start-up that has developed an optical blood pressure monitor at the wrist, has raised an additional CHF 6 million in funding to bring its product to market. The technology combines common optical sensors and proprietary clinically validated algorithms to measure blood pressure at the wrist.
In 2018, Aktiia raised a CHF 4 million Seed Round of funding and the company was incorporated, with the mission to reduce the burden of hypertension. Aktiia’s bracelet and algorithms have been validated in clinical trials against arterial lines and in ambulatory settings. The dataset will allow for broader insights into the diagnosis and treatment of hypertension, Aktiia said in a press release.
Aktiia is in the final steps of taking the solution to market, pending FDA clearance and CE mark approval.
The CHF 6 million in new funding, led by the Switzerland based Redalpine, will fuel Aktiia in achieving these goals, the company said. The round includes a strategically recruited international investor syndicate: Translink Capital (Palo Alto, US), Verve (Zurich, Switzerland), Libra (New York, US), Christian Wenger (Zurich, Switzerland), Sparks Street Capital (Boston, US) and Barbaric Holdings (Montreal, Canada) underpinning the company with a global network and commercialization experience.
“Getting blood pressure data 24/7, day and night, is a paradigm shift in the daily management of hypertension and will trigger a whole range of novel health- and wellness-related applications,” stated Michael Sidler, co-founder and partner of Redalpine.
