NEW YORK (360Dx) – Vocal biomarker technology firm Sonde Health today announced the completion of a $16 million Series A financing round.
The raise included the issuance of $6 million in shares upon conversion of debt into equity, the Boston-based company said.
Sonde is developing voice-based technology for monitoring and diagnosing a number of physical and mental conditions. In a statement, its Cofounder and COO Jim Harper said that Sonde envisions creating a version of a thermometer, called a "vocometer," that uses patients' voices "to provide disease screening and management solutions based on acoustic analysis of seconds of voice."
The technology is being designed so that it can be used across a range of consumer devices such as smartphones and smart speakers for conditions including depression, respiratory diseases, and chronic diseases related to aging.
Sonde said that the Series A round will go toward expanding the technology's capabilities across numerous health conditions and device types and to fund commercial activities. The round was led by M ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Merck KGaA. MP Healthcare Venture Management, the VC arm of Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, also participated, as did Neoteny 4, LP, Canepa Healthcare, and PureTech Health.