US-based blood collection device developer Seventh Sense Biosystems has secured $10m in series C funding from investors including pharmaceutical firm Novartis and diagnostics equipment provider LabCorp.
Polaris Partners and Flagship Ventures also contributed to the round, all four investors having taken part in Seventh Sense’s last round, a $16m series B that included industrial equipment and appliance maker Siemens’ Siemens Financial Services unit that closed in 2014.
Seventh Sense has developed a push-button blood collection device that is positioned on a patient’s upper arm. It replaces tourniquet, large needles, lancets, tubes and bandages, and the company claims it is both more efficient and less painful than traditional methods.
The round increased Seventh Sense’s overall equity funding to about $36m. Marc Ceulemans, head of Novartis Head Strategic Venture Capital & Pharma Equities, has joined its board of directors along with Don Hardison, formerly CEO of genetics screening company Good Start Genetics.