The Broomfield-based medical tech startup Alio Inc. has raised $18 million to commercialize its remote patient monitoring technology.
The Series C round was led by the Widjaja Family Investment Office, an investing group formed by the second-wealthiest family in Indonesia. Also participating were Alio's existing investors, including Chase Field LLC and Thomas Krebs, the former treasurer of Penumbra Inc. (NYSE: PEN), California-based medical device company.
Alio developed a wearable sensor called the SmartPatch, which monitors patients with end-stage kidney disease who are undergoing dialysis. The startup's platform uses artificial intelligence to analyze data from the device and send insights to health care providers. It collects information about patients' skin temperature, heart rate and internal body sounds.
The startup received clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in April to market the SmartPatch. Alio also applied to the FDA this year for clearance to monitor patients' potassium, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, which are affected by kidney disease. The FDA is expected to respond to the application in early 2023, Alio said.
David Kuraguntla, the co-founder and CEO of the startup, said the startup was at a "critical point" and entering its next phase of growth.
"We made tremendous progress over this past year – we achieved a major regulatory milestone with our initial FDA clearance for our platform, completed our FDA submission to include potassium monitoring, and formed a number of strategic partnerships, laying the groundwork for commercialization," Kuraguntla said in a statement. "With this strong foundation established, we have reached a critical point in our journey."
If the FDA were to clear Alio's monitoring of potassium, hemoglobin and hematocrit, the startup plans to launch its SmartPatch platform to the commercial market immediately.
In February, Alio introduced industry veteran Jyoti Palaniappan to its board of directors to help with commercialization and market expansion. Palaniappan currently works as the chief commercial officer of the biotech company Fabric Genomics. He previously worked at the medical device company Abbott and the consulting firm McKinsey & Company.
"He brings to Alio a wealth of knowledge not just about the ever-changing healthcare market but commercial strategy," Kuraguntla said in a statement at the time. "His insights and expertise will help us continue to hone our product roadmap while reinforcing the infrastructure that will allow us to scale effectively.”
Alio touts itself as a company that strives to bring peace of mind to people with chronic conditions, with a particular focus on kidney disease, "where innovation has remained stagnant," its website says.
The startup was founded in 2015 and has raised about $46 million, according to Crunchbase. The $18 million follows its Series B round in 2021, in which Alio raised $20 million.
CB Insights, a market research and business analytics firm, named Alio as one of the 150 most promising digital health companies of 2022 in a list released last week. The 150 finalists were picked from a pool of 13,000 companies and were selected based on their business models, momentum in the market, funding, investor profiles and technology, among other factors.
