US-based medical diagnostic technology developer Sonde Health has raised $16m in a series A round led by M Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of pharmaceutical company Merck Group.
The round also included pharmaceutical firms PureTech Health and Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, with the latter investing through its MP Healthcare Venture Management subsidiary. Investment firm Neoteny and growth equity fund Canepa Healthcare also participated.
Sonde is developing technology that is designed to enable electronic devices such as smartphones and smart speakers to monitor and diagnose psychological and physical medical conditions by analysing changes in the user’s voice.
The company plans to use the funding to expand its technology to cover other health conditions and devices, as well as to fund commercialisation activities.
M Ventures investment director Edward Kliphuis said: “At M Ventures we back exceptional science and technology entrepreneurs to bring potentially disruptive ideas to reality.
“Sonde’s best-in-class vocal biomarker technology, driven by a great founder team, is such a transformational idea, which has the potential to positively impact patient outcomes by fundamentally reimagining how mental and physical conditions are currently monitored and managed.”