Visby Medical adds $35m to Series E round for PCR diagnostic technology

Visby Medical, an American medical diagnostic company, has raised an additional $35 million for its PCR diagnostic technology to take its Series E funding round to over $135 million.

The additional investment of $35 million was led by Lightrock. The UK-based private equity platform joined other Series E investors that include John Doerr, ND Capital, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Pitango Venture Capital, Artiman Ventures, J Ventures, and Blue Water Life Science Advisors.

Based in California, Visby Medical aims to transform the order of diagnosis and treatment for infectious diseases to enable clinicians to test, discuss with, and treat their patients in a single visit.

Its proprietary technology development program resulted in an instrument-free, single-use PCR platform that fits in the palm of a hand to quickly test for serious infections.

Developed originally for sexually transmitted infections, Visby Medical’s FDA-cleared Sexual Health Click Test for women is said to deliver accurate results within 28 minutes.

Visby Medical adds $35m to Series E round for PCR diagnostic technology. Photo courtesy of Visby Medical, Inc.

The medical diagnostic company is also playing a part in fighting the coronavirus pandemic with the Visby Medical COVID-19 Test. Its pipeline also includes tests for other infectious diseases.

Ashish Puri — Partner at Lightrock, commenting on Visby Medical Series E round, said: “Visby Medical has produced a diagnostics tool capable of transforming patient care, enabling accurate results over the course of a patient’s visit.

“The innovation behind this versatile product has the potential to decentralise lab testing, producing major benefits for communities around the world and opening up access to affordable healthcare results.

“Lightrock invests in businesses using scalable technologies to deliver real and significant impacts and Visby aligns perfectly with that vision.”

Visby Medical stated that the additional investment from the Series E funding round will be utilized for scaling its production capacity, further grow its product menu for including advanced respiratory health tests and antimicrobial resistance panels as well as to bring PCR diagnostics to consumers at-home.

Adam de la Zerda — Visby Medical Founder and CEO said: “At Visby Medical, we are revolutionizing patient care by developing diagnostics that healthcare providers can use to test for any infection anytime, anywhere.

“Especially during these times of market slowdown, our investors have shown significant confidence in Visby’s innovative technology and mission. This funding will enable us to further our goal to provide the world’s first instrument-free handheld PCR platform to accurately and rapidly test for a variety of serious infections to anyone who needs it.”