Developer of autonomous blood sampling devices raises $20 million

Vitestro, which focuses on developing fully autonomous blood sampling devices, raises $20 million from funders. The company wants to use the money to commercialise its robotic blood collection device.

Globally, doctors and nurses take blood from patients billions of times a year. Utrecht-based Vitestro wants to automate this process with its autonomous blood collection technology, thus relieving the burden on healthcare. By automating the workflow around blood sampling, blood sampling should cost fewer man hours, which helps ensure continuity of care.

Vitestro's technology combines artificial intelligence (AI)-based ultrasound-guided imaging with robot-assisted needle insertion. The entire process around blood collection from putting a band around the arm to inserting a cotton ball after the collection is automated. This reduces reliance on manual handling, thus relieving the burden of care and helping to improve the satisfaction of both patients and care staff.

In the clinical development of the technology, Vitestro is collaborating with several European hospitals and laboratories, including OLVG Lab, Result Laboratory and St Antonius Hospital. Pre-orders for the autonomous blood collection device have already been signed by several European hospitals. They are expected to deploy the first devices by the end of this year.

Vitestro was founded by Toon Overbeeke (CEO) and Brian Joseph (commercial director). Overbeeke worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company in Amsterdam after completing his master's degree in mechanical engineering at TU Delft, where he focused on strategic issues and private equity. Joseph graduated from TU Delft with a master's degree in geophysics and was previously active as a consultant at Arthur D. Little. Joseph also founded Zarafa and served as CEO at the helm of this software company, which focuses on open source communications software. Zarafa was later acquired by Amazon.

Vitestro's management team further includes:

In its latest funding round, the Utrecht-based company is raising money from various parties. The funding round is co-led Sonder Capital. NYBC Ventures, Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) and several existing private investors are also putting money into Vitestro. In total, the company is raising €22 million.

In recent years, Vitestro has already received a total of 46 million euros in funding and grants. It wants to use the latest funding to expand its team and thus capitalise on the growing demand for autonomous blood collection devices. In doing so, on the one hand, the company is betting on commercialisation within Europe, while on the other it is focusing on its organisational expansion into the US market. Vitestro also wants to further develop its product and make additional product features available.

"We are honoured to continue our partnership with Sonder Capital and proud to welcome NYBC Ventures, Invest-NL and EIC Fund as new investors," said Toon Overbeeke, CEO and co-founder of Vitestro. "Feedback on our innovation from hospitals, staff and patients has been very positive, and we are poised to rapidly expand our reach and impact globally."

"With Vitestro's technological breakthrough, clinical laboratories are perfectly positioned to improve patient care and streamline their healthcare operations, " said Dr Fred Moll, managing partner at Sonder Capital and co-founder of Intuitive Surgical, the company behind the da Vinci surgical robot. "The workload for healthcare staff is unprecedentedly high, partly due to an ageing population and high staff turnover. This makes it increasingly difficult for laboratories to deliver timely, accurate test results. We are excited about the progress Vitestro is making and believe they will quickly modernise the blood collection experience."

Brian Joseph, commercial director and co-founder of Vitestro added: "Our technology represents a major step forward in healthcare, benefiting both hospitals and patients. We are actively expanding our business in other key international markets, particularly in the US."

Vitestro is also conducting the A.D.O.P.T. study. The study focuses on optimising autonomous blood sampling and testing the performance of such systems. The Utrecht-based company expects to obtain CE approval for its device by the end of 2024. The first deliveries of the device are also expected to take place at that time.

Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Photo: Vitestro