Signostics, a US and Australian-based medical device company developing palm-sized ultrasound devices, has raised $5m in an oversubscribed round of financing from new and existing investors.
Signostics has raised a total of $19m to date. The company said that the Signos an affordable handheld ultrasound device, designed for point-of-care use by medical practitioners and veterinarians. The device is so easy to use that most clinicians learn to acquire quality images in less than an hour and is small enough to fit in a pocket or wear around the neck like a stethoscope.
The Signos is ideal for quick applications such as bladder exams, foreign body assessments, fluid localization, pregnancy evaluations and screenings for abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs).
Neil Bartlett, chief executive officer of Signostics, said: “With the recent passage of the healthcare reform bill in the US and high healthcare costs continuing to be a global concern, Signostics’ breakthrough technology creates a very affordable tool to deliver faster diagnosis at the point of care, at a fraction of the cost of other diagnostic tools.
“Our products have many applications that are compelling to many different medical specialties, including emergency medicine and primary care. The additional capital we raised will help us expand in key target segments.”
Signostics was established in Adelaide, Australia in 2005 and expanded into the US in 2008, dedicated to developing point-of-care medical devices. The company had launched its first product into the veterinarian market in January 2009 and gained regulatory approvals to enter the human medical device market for the US, Europe, and Australia in May 2009.