Capitainer, a Stockholm-based medtech startup, announced that it has secured SEK34M (approximately €3.2M) in a round led by Sciety. Existing and new industry specialist investors and several board members and the CEO also participated.
Capitanier says it will use the funds to capitalise on the growing interest in home sampling with its new qDBS dried blood spot testing system.
Ernst Westman, Chairman of Capitainer, says, “Once again we are delighted to have secured such strong support from experienced medtech and diagnostics industry investors. COVID-19 presented us with an unexpected obstacle, but also a welcomed opportunity to prove the utility of our products. This success has generated unprecedented interest worldwide and the new funding will enable us to accelerate both our product development and commercialisation efforts.”
With its technology, the company claims to be addressing a major growing market where, only in Sweden, more than a million therapeutic drug monitoring samples are taken each year.
Capitainer: What you need to know
Founded in 2016, Capitainer has developed a volumetric blood collection device that enables patients to collect the exact amount of blood, plasma, or urine, and then save the samples in dried form.
The patented technology ensures exact sample volumes of 10µl with low CV, independent of haematocrit. Patients need to apply one drop of capillary blood from a finger prick to the inlet port on the qDBS card, which automatically fills a microchannel with the required amount and discards any excess.
Subsequently, the blood volume contained in the microchannel automatically transfers to the specimen collection disc, forming a high-quality dried blood spot sample, preserved for quantitative bioanalysis.
CEO Christopher Aulin says, “Our home-sampling products have generated interest across the whole spectrum of diagnostic testing. From drugs of abuse to metabolic disorders, we are being contacted by leading specialists in Europe and the US interested in exploring different applications for qDBS. However, this is only half the story, as we will also use this new funding to accelerate our product development to broaden our product platform to include plasma and urine sample collection.”
Capitainer says its technology will reduce the need to travel and save healthcare resources spent on taking blood samples.
