Scottish digital health company PneumoWave has raised £7.5m in Series A investment.
The company is aiming to reduce the number of drug overdoses, which are now the leading cause of accidental deaths in most developed countries.
PneumoWave’s technology uses wearable biosensors to send alerts to carers and emergency medical services.
The round comprises £5.2m equity from new investors Scottish National Investment Bank, alongside £2.3m from existing investors Scottish Enterprise, IIG, Equity Gap, Alba Equity and London and Scottish Investment Partners.
Boston-based life science investor Mark Bamforth, of Thairm Bio, also joined the round as PneumoWave prepares to ramp up its US operations.
PneumoWave’s technology is being developed as part of an international research program in collaboration with the University of Dundee, University of Glasgow, King’s College London, and NRCH and Department of Health in Victoria, Australia.
The firm’s co-founder and CEO, Dr Bruce Henderson, said: “We are delighted to close this round and thank both our existing investors and the Scottish National Investment Bank for their support.
“Working with leading international centres, we will now be able to accelerate our clinical validation leading to a planned regulatory submission in early 2024.
“We believe our platform will provide an invaluable tool for increasing the effectiveness of opioid use disorder treatment programmes as well as respiratory disorders in general.
“In addition, as a consequence of this investment, the company is moving to larger premises here at Eurocentral and will increase the team size from 18 to around 35, including a number of staff in the US.”
Paul Callaghan, director innovation at the Scottish National Investment Bank, said: “The bank’s support for PneumoWave will help their aim of being able to remotely diagnose and monitor high-risk patients with respiratory conditions. This commercial investment has the potential to positively impact significant public health issues in this country and beyond.”
Mark Bamforth, of Thairm Bio, added: “This is a great opportunity to support the PneumoWave team to bring their platform to the US to help deliver more effective treatment programmes for both opioid use and general respiratory disorders.”
PneumoWave is a development stage digital health company based in Scotland and the US.
The company’s proprietary digital technology provides real-time physiological data and patient-centric digital biomarkers with the core focus of preventing deaths and reducing hospital admissions from respiratory causes.