Potrero Medical Secures $11.7M in Series D Funding to Advance World’s First ICU-Ready Physiological Monitoring System

On July 22, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned from foreign media reports that predictive health company Potrero Medical announced the completion of an $11.7 million Series D financing round. This round attracted 20 investors, with specific institutional investors undisclosed.

According to a filing submitted by Potrero Medical to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company plans to raise $15 million in this financing round. However, it has not yet reached its expected fundraising target.

Potrero Medical, founded in 2012 and headquartered in California, USA, is a predictive health company focused on the early detection of critical diseases using smart sensors and analytics technologies. The company’s mission is to help clinicians improve patient care outcomes and reduce healthcare costs by developing a predictive technology platform for the early identification of critical illnesses.

Reportedly, Potrero Medical completed a $5 million Series A financing round in September 2016 and a $26.6 million Series C financing round in July 2018. On July 2, 2019, Potrero Medical’s Accuryn monitoring system received CE marking in the European Union. By the end of 2019, Potrero planned to submit its acute kidney injury (AKI) prediction algorithm to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for review while simultaneously developing its next-generation monitor.

Potrero Medical’s Accuryn monitoring system is the world’s first commercially available system for ICU patients that fully integrates physiological measurements of intra-abdominal pressure, urine output, and core body temperature, and can be incorporated into hospital electronic medical record (EMR) systems. Accuryn first received FDA 510(k) clearance in 2016. Since then, the company has been developing an algorithm to predict patients’ risk of acute kidney injury, enabling alerts to caregivers several hours before the onset of the condition.

The company is also developing an artificial intelligence platform capable of analyzing clinical data to enable interventions hours before disease onset, with a particular focus on acute kidney injury (AKI). Today, nearly 50% of ICU patients suffer from AKI, a devastating condition that causes nearly 300,000 deaths annually in the United States alone. Clinical reports indicate that close monitoring of patient urine output can improve early detection of AKI and reduce the risk of patient mortality.

“Accuryn can record patient urine output in real time and accurately measure renal function, thereby improving patient care, reducing complications, and lowering treatment costs. By observing how patients’ organs respond to diuretics, physicians can rapidly identify potential conditions such as acute kidney injury and sepsis, enabling more precise treatment,” said Dr. Gregory Schears, Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Mayo Clinic.

“Urine output monitoring is a critical field that has stagnated for decades. Based on my personal experience using Accuryn in clinical medical devices, I can say that this device represents a new level of technological advancement,” said Dr. Bruce Friedman, Co-Director of Clinical Care at the Joseph M. Still Burn Center. “Accuryn eliminates the urine flow obstruction issues present in current urinary drainage systems, and resolving this problem can significantly improve the accuracy and diagnostic value of urine output monitoring.”

(Compiled by Cheng Tao)