Hemex Health, a Portland, Ore.-based global health startup, has added more cash to fuel its lab-in-a-box devices that can diagnose killer diseases like malaria and sickle cell disease.
The company announced the close of its $3 million seed round, adding $1.3 million to previous funding that GeekWire reported in June. New investors include TiE Global Angels and the Cleveland Clinic.
The new round brings the company’s total funding to date to $4.5 million, including $1.5 million from the National Institute of Health’s Small Business Innovation Research grant.
“Funds are being used for product development and clinical testing in India, Nigeria, Peru, and Uganda,” Hemex CEO Patti White told GeekWire in an email. “We have also opened a lab space in Cleveland near our scientist collaborators at Case Western Reserve University.”
The company has two products in testing: the Magneto-optical device, which diagnoses malaria, and the Hemechip, which diagnoses hemoglobin disorders like sickle cell. The devices need just a pinprick of blood, which is inserted into the machines using a disposable cartridge and returns results within minutes.
White told GeekWire in a previous interview that the devices could diagnose disease much faster and more affordably than traditional lab tests, making them more accessible to vulnerable populations.
Hemex Health now employs 12 at its headquarters in Portland, up from 8 in June.
