NEW YORK — UK-based iFast Diagnostics said Tuesday that it has raised $6.5 million in seed funding.
The financing round was led by KHP Ventures and included EInk, Raw Ventures, and OKG Capital, as well as existing investors Qantx, UKI2S, Kadmos, and undisclosed angel investors.
iFast is developing an antimicrobial susceptibility testing platform that involves extracting bacteria from blood and urine samples, then using multi-frequency impedance measurements to analyze the effects of various antibiotics on the pathogens to help determine the best treatment.
Results are available in under three hours for blood samples and four hours for raw urine samples, compared with 48 hours to 78 hours with current gold-standard methods, according to the company.
iFast said that it will use the money to commercialize its rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing technology in the UK as soon as next year, with the US and EU markets to follow.