Spiden, a visionary in healthtech, has developed a technology platform powered by light and AI to analyse blood, urine and other bodily fluids for the first time in a non-destructive manner and in real time.
Its latest round of funding was led by Ornament Health, a developer of digital health apps, followed by Geberit, a Swiss-listed group and major player in the manufacture and supply of sanitary products; Young Sohn, former chief strategy officer of Samsung, board member of Arm and early investor in Zoom Video; angel investor Daniel Gutenberg, known for his early investments in “unicorns” such as Facebook, Stone and Mobileye ; Edward Ludwig, former CEO and chairman of Becton, Dickinson and current board member of Boston Scientific and CVS Health; Konstantin Othmer, an early engineer at Apple and early investor in Tesla and Ring; Kirill Evstratov, founder of Unlimint, a global fintech company; b-to-v partners; and several other executives from the medtech industry and other sectors.
This latest round brings the company’s total capital to €20.6 million to date.
According to Leo Grünstein, founder and CEO of Spiden, the longevity-focused company was created to help users become aware of the short- and long-term effects on health and the impact that things like diet, environment, medication, exercise and sleep can have. The platform will provide real-time feedback to help improve and extend life.
Spiden’s groundbreaking technology designed to analyse biomarkers and drugs in real time, and perform on-site spectroscopic measurements of physiological fluids, particularly blood, is powered by optical technologies combined with artificial intelligence (AI) to open up integration and application possibilities.
Leo Grünstein’s vision is to one day be able to measure human blood via an implant, enabling continuous measurement and thus earlier detection of disease and improved and more personalised medical treatment. The product is well on its way to being the first of its kind to analyse matter non-destructively, which is not the case with traditional chemical laboratory tests.
This latest major round of funding will allow the Spiden team to further expand the biomarker and drug library on its platform.
What is a biomarker?
Biomarkers are measurements used to perform a clinical assessment such as blood pressure or cholesterol levels and are used to monitor and predict health conditions in individuals so that appropriate therapeutic intervention can be planned.
Ornament Health, which led this latest round of funding, is well-versed in the subject as its product, a digital health app that allows users to upload their blood test results and analyse and organise them in a convenient way to better understand and manage their health, is a competitive solution in the field.
According to Snezhana Gurina, CEO of Ornament, this investment is a strategic move for the tech company, as both companies share a common vision for the future. Both believe that “snapshot biomarker data will give way to continuous, real-time biomarker data”.
Gurina went on to say that Spiden is currently developing what she calls the future of preventive medicine with its unique dataset that will effectively help “uncover correlations between lifestyle choices, medications and longevity.” She concluded that Ornament envisions its contribution to the partnership by providing Spiden with the user interface to its data.
What makes Spiden stand out in the market?
The startup, founded in 2017 by veteran entrepreneur Leo Grünstein, is currently developing a platform focused on longevity and preventive medicine through its unique real-time biomarkers and drug analysis. The non-destructive technique will assist clinicians, patients, and healthy individuals in making informed and timely health and medical treatment choices to optimise health outcomes.
Headquartered in Pfäffikon SZ, Switzerland, Spiden has assembled a strong team of biophotonics experts, opto-mechanical engineers, data scientists, artificial intelligence experts, and more, all collaborating to develop this visionary technology.
In the short term, Spiden intends to work with established industry leaders and create blood monitoring technology that can improve the safety and effectiveness of treatment for critically ill people in clinical settings. Spiden says it has developed a data generation platform that allows spectroscopic measurements of a wide range of biomarkers and drugs in blood.