Babson Diagnostics, a startup looking to make widespread blood sample collection a simpler process, has closed its initial funding round of $13.7 million and gained a new CEO.
The Austin, Texas-based company—born out of Siemens Healthineers—had previously raised $7 million through its series A financing from Prism Ventures and other investors. The round’s final total was backed by additions from Siemens, plus Genesis Merchant Capital and Lago Consulting Group.
Babson, under a long-term partnership with BD, is developing a device that aims to collect lab-quality blood samples in settings such as pharmacies and grocery stores, while requiring little training. The device is also designed to only require a small volume of blood, gathered from the finger’s capillaries without sacrificing the quality of the sample.
That collaboration was re-upped and expanded earlier this year, with a focus on delivering the device to retail settings as well as doctors’ offices, urgent care centers and nursing facilities.
“Babson Diagnostics was incubated from its earliest days within Siemens Healthineers,” said Deepak Nath, president of laboratory diagnostics at Siemens Healthineers. “The company continues to make great progress in democratizing diagnostic blood testing and in contributing to the U.S.’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.”
That includes an IgG antibody blood test, which received an emergency authorization from the FDA in June. It is currently being used in clinical research studies at the Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, which is studying the body’s long-term immune response to the novel coronavirus.
Alongside the series A closing, Babson named a former Siemens executive as its new CEO, who had helped guide the company through its incubation. David Stein previously served as head of global strategy and innovation and chief of Siemens’ point-of-care businesses through January.
“The broad interest in Babson’s recent series A funding exemplifies the demand to redefine in-vitro diagnostic testing and will be critical in supporting Babson Diagnostics’ mission to fundamentally change how samples are collected, processed and analyzed,” Stein said, as the company now moves further into its commercialization phase.
“David and I have worked together for 20 years, and when he became available, the timing was perfect to expand the management team and take Babson into the next phase of growth,” said Babson founder Eric Olson, who previously served as CEO and now becomes its chairman and chief operating officer.
“I’ve known David personally and professionally for most of my career. I know what he can achieve and I trust he’ll achieve it with integrity,” Olson said. “His expertise in leading business development on behalf of the world’s leading medical technology companies will prove invaluable to Babson as we work to transform the diagnostics industry.”