Robotics company Clarapath raises $36M and more digital health fundings

Medical-robotics company Clarapath announced it has secured $36 million in a Series B-1 funding round, bringing its total raise to $75 million. 

Northwell Ventures led the round, with participation from new investors Ochsner Ventures, CU Healthcare Innovation Fund and Mayo Clinic.

The New York-based company created SectionStar, an autonomous AI-enabled robotic tissue sectioning and transfer system that aims to improve pathology lab operations by advancing tissue processing. 

SectionStar is pending launch in the U.S. 

The company will use the funds to accelerate the commercialization of its SectionStar offering and to advance its research and development, as well as its manufacturing, services and sales capabilities. 

“Together, we are building the foundation for a 'lab of the future' that incorporates end-to-end automation, robotics and AI to the patient tissue lifecycle," Dr. Joaquín García, chair of the division of Anatomic Pathology within Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology and chair of Mayo Clinic's Digital Pathology Program, said in a statement. 

ReviR Therapeutics, a biotechnology company that uses AI to develop small molecule RNA modulators for neurogenetic diseases, secured $30 million in Series A financing, bringing its total raise to $54 million.  

Lapam Capital led the round, with participation from 5Y Capital, Yael Capital, CDH Investments, the Charcot-Marie Tooth Research Foundation and XtalPi. 

The California-based company will use the funds to advance its drug discovery platform, VoyageR, which will target the clinical development of treatments for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Huntington's disease and other neurological disorders. 

RetiSpec, an AI-driven eye diagnostics for brain health, scored $10 million in Series A funding, bringing its total raise to $17 million. 

iGan Partners led the round, with participation from new investors Eli Lilly and Topcon Healthcare. 

Existing investors also participated, including Ontario Brain Institute, Gentex, Verge HealthTech Fund, the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation's Diagnostics Accelerator, University of Minnesota's Discovery Capital, Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation and private investors.

Lance Patton, chief commercial officer at Topcon Healthcare, will join the company's board of directors. 

RetiSpec offers a test that helps predict amyloid burden, a biomarker of Alzheimer's disease. 

It says that in the future it expects the test, which is now available for research use only, will be able to be used in the clinical setting by providers during routing office visits.   

The funds will be used to speed up the commercialization of its technology.

"The closing of this Series A financing is a testament of the significant strides we've achieved and marks a major step forward in our mission to enable widespread early and accurate detection of neurodegenerative disease markers with our innovative AI-driven eye test," Eliav Shaked, cofounder and CEO of RetiSpec, said in a statement. 

"We are thrilled to welcome such strong new investors, alongside existing investors, such as Gentex, who have been key contributors throughout our journey. Together, this investment will allow us to accelerate the commercialization of our AI-driven eye test, which has the potential to transform patient outcomes and enable early, accurate, and equitable access to treatment." 

San Francisco-based SoundHealth announced it secured $7 million in seed funding and launched its AI-enabled medical device SONU and SONU app, which uses acoustic vibrational energy to treat moderate to severe nasal congestion. 

J4 Ventures and Moai Capital led the round with participation from Rhythm Venture Capital, Tau Ventures, TeleSoft Partners and TechU Ventures. 

Peter Moran, a seed investor in SoundHealth, will join the company's board of directors. 

SONU, which received FDA De Novo classification, is a wearable device for home use for individuals 22 and older with nasal congestion due to rhinitis.

The AI-enabled device is an external mechanical stimulator that delivers nasal congestion relief by using acoustic vibrations to the sinus and nasal areas. 

“We are delighted to announce the close of our seed-round investment — the proceeds of which will be used for product launch and advancing our pipeline of indications for the SONU device," Paramesh Gopi, founder and CEO of SoundHealth, said in a statement. "SoundHealth’s mission is to provide personalized, intelligent wearables to help people breathe and sleep better!"