Israel-based medical diagnostics technology developer MeMed has closed a funding round totalling more than $70m, supplied by investors including insurance providers Ping An, Clal Insurance and Phoenix Insurance.
Medical device maker Caesarea Medical Holdings and contract manufacturer Foxconn also took part in the round, along with OurCrowd, Social Capital, WTI, Horizons Ventures and unnamed private investors. Ping An invested through its Ping An Global Voyager Fund.
MeMed is working on diagnostics tests that use machine learning to harness signals sent by the body’s immune system. MeMed BV, a blood test that determines whether an infection is bacterial or viral, has been approved in Israel, the European Union and Switzerland.
The funding will support commercialisation of MeMed BV as well as the completion of the development of a point-of-care protein measurement test called MeMed Key.
Marco Huesch, chief medical officer for Ping An Voyager Fund, said: “This exciting innovation will greatly enhance diagnostic and therapeutic confidence among physicians and their patients when faced with distinguishing bacterial from viral infections.
“Beyond profoundly benefiting individual patients, this groundbreaking technology will address antibiotic overuse within the broader population and contribute to reducing the growing burden of antibiotic resistance.”
The company had raised a total of $30m in venture funding as of April 2017, CEO Eran Eden told the Financial Times. It has also received grant funding from the European Commission and US Department of Defense.