Ceros Capital Markets, a division of Ceros Financial Services, announced that it has, has completed a USD17.14 million Series A2 Preferred Stock financing round for Aquyre Biosciences, a US company which has developed and built a disruptive medical diagnostic platform for on-site adequacy assessment of tissue biopsies.
Ceros Capital Markets, a division of Ceros Financial Services, announced that it has, has completed a USD17.14 million Series A2 Preferred Stock financing round for Aquyre Biosciences, a US company which has developed and built a disruptive medical diagnostic platform for on-site adequacy assessment of tissue biopsies.
Its CelTivity system captures intracellular data from the biopsy and creates Dynamic Cell Images™ of the tissue samples to identify and interpret the presence of different types of cells, such as cancer, non-cancer and granuloma, to name a few. The image acquisition takes less than two minutes, while the patient is still present in the procedure suite.
Aquyre’s Dynamic Cell Images enable the proceduralist to eliminate the uncertainty with intraprocedural tissue adequacy of the entire tissue sample, without staining or sacrificing the biopsy, with accuracy and precision. This increases the probability that enough cells are presented for pathology analysis, while improving diagnostic yield.
Aquyre’s technology and its digitalised sample holder model will permit biopsy data and results to be stored and shared electronically between the patient’s medical team with ease. Once the data is built up, AI will create advances in automated tissue adequacy assessment and diagnosis. Aquyre’s CelTivity system will change the current standard in terms of patient care, hospital workflow and overall costs, according to the company. Aquyre has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Paris, France.
“With our cellular imaging technology, it takes about two minutes from live tissue to data and digital image for review by the medical expert. The funding will allow us to accelerate the commercialisation of our system in the US,” says Bertrand Le Conte de Poly, CEO of Aquyre Biosciences.
“The need for quick, real-time data is critical in cancer detection and diagnosis. Biopsy assessment can take up to seven days with the current technology and surgical procedures for cancer detection, and they don’t produce results in real time. Aquyre’s Biopsy Scanner transforms the entire process,” says Mark Goldwasser, CEO of Ceros Financial Services.
Goldwasser said that Ceros is targeting to raise USD100 million over the next twelve months for investment in early-stage medical technology and medical device companies. This spring, the firm co-led USD96 million for Memic Innovative Surgery to support commercialisation of Memic’s Hominis robotic-assisted platform. The Hominis system is the first and only FDA-authorised surgical robotic platform featuring miniature humanoid-shaped robotic arms that provide human level dexterity, multi-planar flexibility and 360 degrees of articulation. The biomimetic instruments are designed to replicate the motions and capabilities of a surgeon’s arms.
Ceros has completed about USD77 million in transactions in the past year. In addition to Aquyre and Memic, investments include OrthoSensor, which has developed a sensor-assisted device used during knee surgery that sends real-time data to an operating room monitor, assisting surgeons’ decision-making; DermoSensor, which designs non-invasive tools that use machine learning and spectroscopy to evaluate skin lesions for cancer; and Insightec, which uses guided focused ultrasound equipment for non-invasive brain surgery.
“We believe the medical technology sector holds great potential. Our focus will continue on emerging companies working on innovative new technologies which could prove to be disruptive and transformative,” says Goldwasser.