Kalium Health’s investment round sets up success for 2023
01/12/2022
Kalium Health, which aims to transform the way that kidney disease and heart disease is managed, has announced a new phase of growth backed by a new investment round.
The over-subscribed round was led by Cambridge Enterprise with participation from new and existing investors including Kidney Research UK and Martlet Capital, which joins the company’s board of directors.
The funds will be used to advance the company’s core blood monitoring technology and develop worldwide partnership opportunities ahead of further planned investment and growth in 2023.
The company spun out of the University of Cambridge in 2019. The co-founders, Professor Fiona Karet, now chief medical officer, and CEO Tom Collings, have been joined by Tanya Hutter, chief technology officer, and Liz Norgett, chief scientific officer.
The company, which earlier this month moved into Building 2 of Allia’s Future Business Centre on King’s Hedges Road, has developed technology to monitor blood potassium levels that is so simple that patients themselves can use it.
Blood potassium balance is critical to health, but kidney disease or common heart medications can interfere with this balance, which leads to a significantly increased risk of illness or sudden death and a doubling of the average treatment costs of at-risk patients.
Kalium Health’s first product will be a personalised, digital monitor for blood potassium concentration, aimed at addressing a significant part of the multi-billion dollar worldwide cost of managing kidney disease and heart failure. The company is also developing its technology for other clinical settings via partnerships with global medical technology providers.
Kalium’s new facilities at Building 2 provide a platform for the growth of the company, with dedicated laboratories for the company’s R&D activities, space for an expanded prototype manufacturing line and offices to support increased headcount.
The company will be recruiting engineers, technicians and administrative staff in line with its growth plans.
Tom Collings said: “We have shown that our innovation could play a key role in transforming healthcare – helping to manage common conditions, like kidney disease or heart failure, as part of patients’ everyday lives.
“Our recent financing and our investment in dedicated laboratory facilities is an important step in our planned growth of the company – 2023 is shaping up to be a really exciting year for us, with new partnerships and further investment on the horizon.”
Cambridge Enterprise has supported Kalium for over three years and was delighted to lead on the new round. (Precise figures for the round are not yet available.)
Dr Amanda Wooding, investment director, life sciences, Cambridge Enterprise, is on Kalium’s board of directors.
She said: “Cambridge Enterprise Seed Funds are pleased to be able to continue supporting Kalium Health on their journey to develop a personalised digital monitor to detect blood potassium levels.
“We greatly admire Professor Fiona Karet’s vision of enabling patients to monitor their cardiorenal disease at home. Kalium Health aims to transform the lives of patients with kidney disease or heart failure, much like the lives of diabetic patients were transformed in the 1980s by the introduction of the hand-held blood glucose monitor.”
Article sourced from www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk
Published on: 01.12.22