aktiia, the Swiss startup founded in 2018 to commercialize its proprietary optical Blood Pressure Monitoring technology (oBPM™), has raised CHF 4 million in seed funding to commercialize its disruptive algorithms for blood pressure monitoring.
“There’s an urgent need to address the problem of hypertension, as it affects every third adult, and is the largest epidemic known to mankind. We will empower people with cutting edge technology in this fight,” said Mattia Bertschi, co-founder and CEO of aktiia.
Related Innovative Bracelet Will Monitor Your Blood Pressure 24 Hours a Day
aktiia utilizes a combination of optical sensors commonly used to track heart-rate in today’s wearables, and clinically validated software algorithms to measure an individual’s blood pressure at the wrist.
The algorithms will be embedded in non-medical third-party wearables for preventive purpose to track blood pressure trends, as well as in aktiia’s medical grade wearable to monitor precise blood pressure values that can be used for the diagnosis and management of hypertension.
The technology has been validated through trials in acute and low-acute settings with worldwide acknowledgement of its accuracy.
Josep Sola, aktiia co-founder and CTO and an expert in the field, directed the development of aktiia’s patented technology.
The funding, led by Silicon Valley based TransLink Capital, and Swiss based Redalpine, will enable aktiia to achieve its goal of delivering hypertension monitors to those who need it most.
“This technology is a quantum leap in the fight against hypertension and will revolutionize the way we look at blood pressure.” stated Michael Sidler, Co-Founder and Partner of Redalpine.
The seed round also includes strategically recruited international angel investors: Christian Wenger (Switzerland), Mladen Barbaric of Pearl Studios (Canada), and Sparks Street Capital (USA), underpinning the company with a global network and commercialization experience.
Related Apple Files Patent Application for Blood Pressure Monitoring Cuff
“TransLink has always been on the forefront of wearable technologies, and we are constantly on the lookout for pioneers. We are very excited to be a part of what will be a healthcare game changer.” said Eric Hsia, Managing Director of TransLink Capital.
aktiia is currently developing both strategic third-party manufacturer partnerships, as well as its full product offering.
About aktiia
aktiia was founded by Mattia Bertschi (CEO) and Josep Sola (CTO), leading experts from the Swiss research institute CSEM. The team currently has 10 employees and is located in Neuchatel (Switzerland) and Zürich (Switzerland). The company’s patented core technology for blood pressure monitoring is based on more than 15 years of pioneering work and over 30 peer-reviewed publications at CSEM.
