Acurable, an award-winning wearable medical devices company, today announced an €11m investment as a result of its Series A funding round. These funds will be used to accelerate the international expansion of its first product AcuPebble SA100 and drive the company towards its ambition to become the preferred solution for home sleep testing worldwide. The investment was led by Kibo Ventures, along with Mundi Ventures, Kindred Capital, and Comprador Holdings among others.
Acurable’s first product AcuPebble SA100 simplifies obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) detection and monitoring by enabling fully automated testing of patients at home for the first time. After successfully launching AcuPebble SA100 in the UK and Spain in 2021, Acurable is now looking to scale up in these two countries and expand into further European markets and North America.
AcuPebble SA100 is the first wearable medical device to obtain a CE mark in Europe for the automated diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea at home, and has received FDA 510(k) clearance in the US. It is also the first device in the world that achieves the accuracy in likelihood ratios required by the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to consider a diagnostic method equivalent to the gold standard.
This funding follows the recent announcement of a strategic distribution agreement with Nyxoah to provide the AcuPebble SA100 home sleep test to the German market. Acurable’s international expansion brings it one step closer to solving the current unmet needs in diagnosis and monitoring of OSA - a significant issue affecting approximately one billion people globally.
Professor Esther Rodriguez-Villegas, inventor of the AcuPebble technology, co-CEO and founder of Acurable, is a world-renowned scientist and has been awarded some of the highest recognitions in her field. She commented: “The response to AcuPebble SA100 since its launch has been incredible, and we are thrilled to see the product being used to help patients and clinicians in the real world. This funding will help us reach our initial goal of diagnosing one million patients and gives us the opportunity to continue working on new products that will fundamentally improve the lives of millions of people living with severe chronic conditions.”
Based on contact acoustic sensing, AcuPebble technology is able to automatically extract a wide range of cardio-respiratory disease-related physiological markers. It does this non-invasively and continuously with accuracy comparable to current complex gold-standard methods, which rely heavily on clinical human resources. The technology is ideally positioned to play a significant role in improving the diagnosis and management of some of the most significant chronic respiratory and cardiovascular conditions today. These affect hundreds of millions of people, have significant unmet needs in terms of patient monitoring, and are among the most common causes of death globally. Series A funding will allow Acurable to continue investing in new products for these conditions.
Sonia Fernández, Partner at Kibo Ventures, said: “We are delighted to be joining Acurable’s exciting journey. AcuPebble has the potential to transform the way sleep apnoea and other chronic conditions are diagnosed and monitored. It’s much more accurate and easier to use than other devices, and we believe it’s a huge step forward for global healthcare. This is still just the beginning for Acurable and I cannot wait for what comes next.”
1Benjafield, A. V., Ayas, N. T., et al. Estimation of the global prevalence and burden of obstructive sleep apnoea: a literature-based analysis. The Lancet Respiratory Medicine 2019; 7(8): 687–698. doi:10.1016/s2213-2600(19)30198-5.
About Acurable
Acurable creates accurate and user-friendly wearable medical devices intended to be used by patients at home. Its award-winning, patented technology enables for the first time the automated diagnosis and management of respiratory conditions at home. It is a breakthrough in respiratory medicine and the product of more than 10 years’ research at Imperial College London by Acurable’s founder, Professor Esther Rodriguez Villegas. Its first product, AcuPebble SA100, is the first wearable medical device to obtain the CE mark for the automated diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea at home. Acurable is backed by investors from Alma Mundi Ventures and Kindred Capital. For more information, please visit www.acurable.com.