SG healthtech firm bags $7m from Aldevron co-founder, 22Health Ventures

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Healthtech startup Thrixen has raised US$7 million in a round co-led by 22Health Ventures, an early-stage healthtech investment firm, and John Ballantyne, co-founder of biotech player Aldevron.

Thrixen said it will use the funds to advance the development of its diagnostic tech platform, which has the potential to perform multiplex diagnostic tests at the point of care for the first time.

“At the heart of this innovation is Thrixen’s proprietary assay technology, a protein engineering platform that replaces the use of antibodies, which has proven 99.5% sensitivity in clinical trials conducted to date,” said the Singapore-based startup.

The company noted that the tech under development allows for a rapid test to distinguish between bacterial and viral infections within 10 minutes based on a finger-prick sample.

Investment by 22Health Ventures, on top of the capital, provides Thrixen an accelerated access to the US market and management guidance as the VC firm’s founder and managing partner, Ara Tavitian, will join the startup as a board member, said Thrixen.

“This investment and our new partnerships will be instrumental in allowing Thrixen to develop its initial use cases in ways that will facilitate successful clinical trials and establish a robust regulatory package to bring our product to market,” said Shavit Clein, CEO of Thrixen.

See also: Series SEA: Who’s investing in the region’s biotech startups?

This story was republished with permission from The Business Times, which made the article available to its paying subscribers. It was moderately edited to reflect Tech in Asia’s editorial guidelines.