Clair Labs is aiming for a $9 million seed investment in contac
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In order to continue developing its contact-free technology for both hospitals and at-home health care, remote bedside patient monitor company Clair Labs has raised $9 million in seed funding.
SleepScore Ventures, Maniv Mobility, and Vasuki were among the companies that participated in the seed round, which was led by 10D.
Founders Adi Berenson and Ran Margolin met while working at Apple, where they were both members of the company's product incubation group. They decided to start their own company in Israel in 2018.
Clair Labs was conceived as a result of the aging population and the push by hospitals to discharge low-acuity patients to their homes, which resulted in an influx of high-acuity patients into the hospitals themselves. During their stay at home, patients were generally provided with medical devices such as patient monitors, and the pair believed they could combine their knowledge of consumer technology from Apple with health care to make those devices more user-friendly and something that patients would be willing to use at home.
A contact-free biomarker sensing system for continuous multiparameter patient monitor of vital signs such as heart rate, respiration, air flow and body temperature was developed as a result of this research. Clair Labs is putting this information to use in the development of medical devices and systems.
In an interview with Crunchbase News, Berenson explained that "one of the challenges of this space is that it is broad and there are many companies taking a horizontal approach.""We believe that identifying existing workflows and deploying our technology patient monitor is the best approach. "The process is slightly more difficult because you have to work within the framework of existing clinical, regulatory, and reimbursement practices, but it is effective when all of the pieces are in place."
As a starting point, the company is focusing its efforts on sleep medicine, specifically sleep apnea, as well as acute and post-acute care facilities.
According to Berenson, biomarker sensing is a more cost-effective way to digitally monitor patients around the clock than traditional methods. The system also tracks changes in the patient's position, such as an intent to rise, as well as other behavioral markers such as sleep patterns and distress, according to the patient. Those pieces of information are analyzed by machine-learning algorithms, which in turn provide recommendations to health-care professionals.
Current clinical trials for the technology are being carried out in Israel, and the company intends to begin pilot projects with sleep centers and hospitals in the United States in the near future.
Clair Labs is in the pre-revenue stage and is operated by a small team of ten employees who serve as patient monitors. New funding will help the company expand its research and development center in Tel Aviv, as well as put it in a position to open a U. S. office the following year, which will be primarily responsible for providing customer support in North America and overseeing marketing and sales efforts.
We needed some time to incubate, but with this round of funding, we're moving from incubation to prototyping and the clinical trials phase, according to Berenson."The trials are progressing smoothly, and the system is performing as expected. Among our objectives for the next two years are the completion of our trials bedside patient monitor in Israel before proceeding to the United States for trials, obtaining FDA clearance, and starting to sell before proceeding to the next funding round."
The other point of emphasis for 10D is digital health, according to Rotem Eldar, managing partner, who stated that there is significant interest in Clair Labs because of its experienced team, which is bringing technology and know-how to a space where there is significant market opportunity.