A rapidly growing Greater Cincinnati startup that counts Mark Cuban and Avondale-based CincyTech as investors has raised millions in new funding.
Mason-based Genetesis – whose flagship technology, CardioFlux, can rapidly scan for various heart conditions without the use of any radiation, contrast or exercise – has closed $17.5 million in Series C financing. The company announced the news Thursday.
The round was led by Austin, Texas-based Mithril Capital, a venture firm co-founded by famed billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, with participation from Cercano Management as well as from existing investors, including JobsOhio Growth Capital, Ohio Innovation Fund and CincyTech.
The financing will allow Genetesis to obtain U.S. Food & Drug Administration “de novo” approval, a pathway for novel medical devices; launch a new series of clinical trials; and commercialize and launch its systems globally across a variety of care settings.
The raise brings the company’s total funding to more than $40 million.
“We now have data demonstrating the breakthrough value of our CardioFlux diagnostic platform,” Peeyush Shrivastava, co-founder and CEO of Genetesis, said in a release. “We are thrilled to welcome our new investors and greatly appreciate the continued support of our returning investors as we work to make CardioFlux available across the globe.”
CardioFlux’s technology allows for the quick assessment and diagnosis of various heart conditions. The platform leverages magnetocardiography, a technique used to measure the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the heart, and offers patients a rapid scan – without the use of any radiation, contrast or exercise.
CardioFlux was cleared by the FDA in 2019 and obtained FDA breakthrough device designation in December 2020.
Over the past several years, CardioFlux has been clinically investigated in hundreds of patients with suspected acute and chronic coronary syndromes – as well as in patients with confirmed coronary microvascular dysfunction, an abnormal dilation and constriction of the small blood vessels in the heart. Genetesis counts Cleveland Clinic, Wake Forest University, Cincinnati concierge care provider Ms.Medicine, Ascension and others as partners.
Ajay Royan, managing general partner and co-founder of Mithril Capital, said CardioFlux will be “instrumental” in fighting cardiovascular disease, the leading cause of death around the globe.
Clinicians will be able to quickly diagnose dysfunction in a non-invasive way, he said. The technology promises to offer clinicians and patients a “unprecedented simplicity, ease of use and patient comfort.”
“The team at Genetesis is pioneering a new era for medical imaging with an initial focus that is truly revolutionary,” Royan said in the release. “Millions of Americans and their clinicians stand to benefit from CardioFlux’s goal of an accurate, noninvasive, 5-minute frontline cardiac assessment that entails no pharmaceuticals, no exercise and no radiation."
Genetesis, founded in 2013, is part of a growing bio hub in the city of Mason that includes Clarigent Health, P&G's Global Beauty Innovation Center, Masters Pharmaceutical and AtriCure. The startup is located in the city’s Tech Elevator, which helps early-stage tech and bioscience companies scale. It also recently opened a CardioFlux Imaging Institute on the city's municipal campus.
Genetesis closed a $10.5 million Series B in April 2020, led by TDK Ventures, a California-based corporate VC fund, and an undisclosed Fortune 500 firm, with participation from CincyTech, the Ohio Innovation Fund and Cuban's Radical Investments.
The company has 30 employees.
