US-based blood collection and diagnostics company Seventh Sense Biosystems raised $16m in series B funding yesterday in a round that featured pharmaceutical company Novartis and industrial equipment maker Siemens.
Siemens, which invested through its Siemens Financial Services subsidiary, and Novartis were joined in the round by diagnostic technology company Laboratory Corporation of America and venture capital firms Polaris Partners and Flagship Ventures.
Founded in 2008 as part of Flagship incubator Flagship VentureLabs, Seventh Sense aims to simplify blood testing, and will use the funding to complete and launch its touch-activated phlebotomy blood collection and testing platform.
The company closed a $10m in series A funding in May 2011 from Flagship, Polaris and Third Rock Ventures. It also received a $3.3m grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, as part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative, in December 2011.