Leuko Secures $1.8M Seed Funding to Advance AI-Powered Non-Invasive Blood Monitoring Device PointCheck™

On July 17, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that tech startup Leuko announced the completion of a $1.8 million seed funding round. The company intends to use these funds for the continued development of its blood testing device, PointCheck™. This round was led by Good Growth Capital, with participation from Pegasus Tech Ventures, Nina Capital, and other angel investors.

Leuko, founded in 2017 and headquartered in Massachusetts, USA, is a spin-off from the MIT M+Vision Consortium. The company was established by four scientists and entrepreneurs from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), two of whom are also alumni of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.

They are developing a platform technology to measure blood parameters in a non-invasive manner. PointCheck™ features scalable capabilities, and its solution combines optical and artificial intelligence technologies to make blood testing easier, faster, more accessible, and more cost-effective.

Dr. Carlos Castro Gonzalez is the CEO of Leuko. In 2013, Carlos joined the MIT linQ healthcare innovation collaboration program (MIT Lincoln Laboratory), where he met measurement systems experts MSc Ian Butterworth, Dr. Álvaro Sánchez-Ferro, and Dr. Aurelien Bourquard. Recognizing the significant unmet medical needs of cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, they co-founded Leuko.

PointCheck™ is a non-invasive white blood cell monitoring device. By shining light onto the skin around the fingernail, PointCheck™ images blood cells flowing through superficial capillaries and then uses AI algorithms to determine whether white blood cell levels have fallen below dangerous thresholds.

White blood cell count is an indicator of the body’s immune system. For cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, each infusion significantly compromises their physical function and reduces white blood cell levels in the blood, placing them at high risk of infection. PointCheck™ can predict whether a patient will develop an infection, thereby enabling preventive treatment.

Currently, PointCheck™ is still in the research phase and has not been evaluated by the FDA or received CE Marking; therefore, it is not yet available for commercial sale.

“Our vision is for every chemotherapy patient to have a PointCheck™ portable device they can take home,” said Carlos Castro-Gonzalez, CEO and co-founder of Leuko. “This new investment will support the continued development of our platform technology and clinical research, ultimately turning this vision into reality.”

Good Growth Capital, established in May 2017, is a venture capital fund focused on investing in early-stage technology companies. The fund has built a community of experienced investment professionals to support startups in the southeastern United States. The partners at Good Growth Capital bring decades of experience investing in Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-affiliated companies, as well as expertise and backgrounds in managing profitable technology enterprises.

Pegasus Tech Ventures, established in 2011, is a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley. The company partners with emerging technology companies worldwide, focusing on helping entrepreneurs achieve global expansion across North America, Asia, and Europe. Pegasus Tech Ventures boasts a team of over 90 professionals and maintains offices in seven different countries and regions. Currently, the firm manages hundreds of millions of dollars in assets.

Headquartered in Catalonia, Spain, Nina Capital focuses on investing in companies at the seed and Series A stages. The firm holds a vision for the future: to provide meaningful insights for improving health and preventing disease through data derived from computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and sensor technologies.

(Compiled by Cheng Tao)