The company’s revolutionary Tesseract iC™ brings in a new class of diagnostics, using retinal imaging to see chemistry and diagnose diseases
Tesseract HealthTM Inc. has raised $80 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round — with support from investors including Foresite Capital, Glenview Capital, and Opaleye — to advance the development of the company’s groundbreaking Tesseract iC™ eye-imaging diagnostic technology platform. The funds will be used to conduct research to advance the Tesseract iC platform, accelerate the company’s push to obtain US and international regulatory clearances, and ramp up manufacturing. The funds will also be used to further enhance Tesseract’s unique AI capabilities and prepare the company for commercial launch.
The Tesseract iC platform (not yet cleared by the US FDA) is intended to diagnose a wide range of diseases without drawing blood. The platform includes a novel chemical sensor and combined, multiple dimensions of imaging technology and AI to image the retina, which is the only part of the human body where it is possible to directly see arteries, veins, capillaries, and nerves. The Tesseract iC platform is a binocular eye imaging device that is portable, affordable, and operable by anyone, supporting a post COVID world focused on cloud-connected telemedicine. Tesseract plans to usher in a new branch of diagnostics fusing the best of imaging and laboratory medicine, a truly world’s first to support screening, diagnosis, monitoring and treatment in a number of clinical domains to go well beyond ophthalmology to primary care, cardiology, neurology and more.
“Our mission is to democratize healthcare on a global scale,” commented company founder, Dr. Jonathan Rothberg. “Tesseract aims to disrupt healthcare by leveraging the wealth of information that exists in the human eye to promote health equity. Everyone, anywhere, must have access to life saving diagnostic information. With Tesseract’s device, we believe they will.”
“We are excited about the potential of the Tesseract iC to combine a portable, non-invasive view of the eye with advances in AI,” said Jim Tananbaum, CEO and Managing Director of Foresite Capital. “We believe this combination will unlock the potential of the human eye to transform diagnostics.” Vik Bajaj, Managing Director at Foresite Capital, will be joining the Tesseract board of directors.
“We are pleased to co-invest with Jonathan and the Tesseract team to advance the development of its innovative retinal imaging platform,” said Larry Robbins, CEO of Glenview Capital. “Our investment directly aligns with our strategy to support affordable, portable and non-invasive diagnostic platforms to monitor and assess patient health across the broadest range of care settings and geographies.” Lee Hathaway, Partner and Co-Head of Healthcare Investing at Glenview, will be joining the Tesseract board of directors.
