A Durham-based medical device company founded by a WakeMed physician has landed a $6.3 million raise to support its next phase of growth.
The company, 410 Medical, is developing products aimed at rapidly delivering blood or intravenous fluids to critically ill patients. The additional funding will support the company's efforts to grow its customer base and develop a new product.
WakeMed physician Mark Piehl founded 410 based on his experiences treating traumatically injured patients and the frustration of not being able to deliver blood or fluids to them quickly enough. Working with local engineers, he developed a prototype that eventually became the company's first LifeFlow product.
Launched about five years ago, the handheld device is approved to rapidly deliver IV fluids to patients. In 2020, the company received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its second product, LifeFlow Plus, designed to deliver both IV fluids and blood.
The company has grown its customer base for LifeFlow Plus to 140 hospitals and emergency medical services agencies throughout the U.S, CEO Kyle Chenet said. Funding from the new Series B round will help the company grow that number.
"Following Covid, hospitals are looking at new products again," Chenet said. "It's a good time to make the investment we're making."
Hospitals make up about 70 percent of the addressable market of rapid infusion of blood and IV fluids. But the company also sees momentum from EMS agencies interested in using LifeFlow devices in pre-hospital blood programs that involve treating patients at the site of their injury and on their way to the hospital.
"Rather than load and go ... the new model is let's treat the patient where they are and during transport," Chenet said.
In addition to the commercial efforts, Chenet said the funding will support the development of a next-generation LifeFlow product that will include different features from the company's current offerings, including automation. The company has received funding from the U.S. Department of Defense to support the development of this product. Chenet said the goal is to get the device in front of the FDA within the next couple of years.
The firm says the raise should support it to the point of cash flow breakeven. Chenet said this could be within the next three to four years.
Durham-based Hatteras Venture Partners led the funding round, which included participation from new and existing investors. This includes the investment arms of health care organizations that are also customers of 410, such as Orlando Health Ventures, OSF Ventures and WakeMed. The latter, in addition to being the hospital where Piehl — 410's co-founder and chief medical officer — practices, was an early partner in the company's simulation studies and its first customer.
After a slowdown in growth related to the pandemic, the company says it is experiencing 75 percent year-over-year growth.
"We're on a good trajectory," Chenet said. "Our plan is to support the existing trajectory ... with additional resources where necessary."
