AN IRISH company developing what it says is a revolutionary approach to assessing sleep problems has raised €6 million in a fundraising that will help it bring its first consumer products to markets.
BiancaMed, a company spun out of UCD, has developed SleepMinder, a device that can monitor sleep and breathing in the home or in a clinical setting. The device uses a radio frequency motion sensor.
The latest funding round was led by European venture capital group Seventure Partners and is its first investment outside continental Europe.
Existing shareholders ePlanetVentures and ResMed, one of the major players in developing equipment for sleep-related conditions, also took part in the latest fundraising.
Chief executive Conor Hanley says the device will have significant applications in diagnosing sleep disorders, such as sleep apnoea and insomnia.
“We sleep around 20 per cent less than our grandparents and that can have an impact on health,” says Mr Hanley. “Sleeping less than five hours a night over the long term can double your risk of developing diabetes.”
BiancaMed plans to start selling its products next year. Initially, its technology will be used in baby monitors and personal sleep monitors for use in the home.
“This is a motion sensor that is able to monitor chest-wall movement, physical movement of people turning in their sleep and even surface movement of the skin indicating heart movement,” said Dr Hanley.
He said the device was sensitive enough not to confuse two people sleeping in the one bed and could take its readings even through sheets.
The company is also currently in discussions with the US regulator, the Food and Drug Administration, to secure approval for use of SleepMinder in medical applications.
While there are some sleep monitors on the market, they are either very basic or rely on contact points with the sleeping person.
BiancaMed said yesterday that it had signed a series of commercial deals that would see the technology used in devices manufactured by a range of companies.
BiancaMed will charge both for the sensor in the device and the software that allows the data to be analysed.
“We really do see this as one of the most exciting companies that we are invested in,” said Donald Fitzmaurice of ePlanetVentures, who is chairman of BiancaMed.
EPlanetVentures has previously invested in groups such as Skype and Baidu.
BiancaMed was founded in 2003 by Dr Hanley – who returned to Ireland with an interest in commercialising technology – and UCD academics Conor Heneghan and Philip de Chazal from the school of electrical, electronic and mechanical engineering, the men behind the development of the technology.
Both hold executive roles in the company.
Dr Pat Frain, director of NovaUCD said: “The success of BiancaMed in securing this significant investment from an international VC is a major achievement especially given the current economic climate.”
