Medical Diagnostic Company Visby Medical raised $100 million in a Series E round earlier this year. Today, the company told me it had extended that round for another $35 million at the same valuation as the rest of the round. With this funding, Visby Medical can scale production capacity from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of monthly tests. It will also further expand its product portfolio to include COVID + influenza A/B combination testing, antimicrobial resistance panels and the delivery of at-home PCR diagnostics to consumers.
“The valuation is just over $1 billion post-money,” a company spokesperson told londonbusinessblog.com via email. “The extension has the same valuation as the rest of the round, which we believe shows that these are long-term investors unaffected by short-term fluctuations in the public markets.”
The company told me it was consciously seeking investors who wanted to keep investing for the long term. The original $100 million was led by Ping An Voyager Partners and joined by the Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP). The round also included participation from existing investors, including John Doerr, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, ND Capital, Artiman Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, Blue Water Life Science Advisors and Nissim Capital.
The additional $35 million renewal round was led by Lightrock, which joined existing Series E investors including John Doerr, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, ND Capital, Artiman Ventures, Pitango Venture Capital, Blue Water Life Science Advisors and J Ventures .
“At Visby Medical, we are revolutionizing patient care by developing diagnostics that healthcare providers can use to test for any infection anytime, anywhere,” Visby Medical founder and CEO Adam de la Zerda, PhD, said in a statement to londonbusinessblog.com. “Especially in these times of market slowdown, our investors have shown great confidence in Visby’s innovative technology and mission. This funding will enable us to achieve our goal of providing the world’s first instrument-free handheld PCR platform to accurately and quickly test for a variety of serious infections for everyone who needs it.”
Visby’s PCR diagnostic technology is being developed in multiple therapeutic areas and is intended to address a critical and growing global need: to combat the significant increase in infectious diseases, including solutions for rapid on-site testing of STDs.
The funding shows that money is still available, and it’s encouraging to see companies more willing to announce round extensions — traditionally frowned upon by the investment community — and valuations as part of their financing journey.