NEW YORK ─ Seattle-based startup Tasso said on Wednesday that it has closed an oversubscribed $17 million Series A financing round and plans to use the proceeds to scale manufacturing and operations to meet the demand for its push-button blood collection devices.
Tasso OnDemand devices enable people to collect blood without training from the comfort and privacy of the home and mail samples to a CLIA-certified, high-complexity clinical laboratory for testing.
The devices are already being used by academic medical institutions, government agencies, comprehensive cancer centers, and pharmaceutical organizations, Tasso said.
"The coronavirus pandemic has underscored the surging demand for more diagnostic solutions that are patient friendly and can be deployed easily at home," Ben Casavant, CEO and cofounder of Tasso, said in a statement. "The Tasso OnDemand devices are enabling people to be tested for COVID-19 and many other routine diagnostic applications from anywhere at any time. This funding round is a strong validation of our approach and will allow us to build on our recent successes and enhance the platform with new value-added services in the future.”
The Series A financing round was led by Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures and included participation from Foresite Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars-Sinai. Elizabeth Hambrecht, partner at Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures, has joined Tasso’s board of directors.
Tasso said its product is being validated for various applications, including routine diagnostics, chronic disease monitoring, infectious disease surveillance, athletic and sports testing, virtual clinical trials, and healthcare for underserved populations.
To date, the company has raised $38.6 million from grants, private investments, and codevelopment collaborations. The funding has come from grants awarded by the US Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DoD's Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the National Institutes of Health; investments from private venture firms; and codevelopment deals with other entities, the firm said.