Israeli digital health startup OutSense extends its Series A financing round to $2.7 million, following an investment from Longevity Venture Partners, an American early-stage venture capital fund specializing in the Silvertech, Healthcare and Wellness sectors. The investment supplements the $2.2 million financing from Peregrine Ventures, which the company announced in November 2020.
Longevity will begin piloting OutSense’s technology for detecting clinical conditions by analyzing human waste later this year. The funds are being used for product development and preparations for large scale production, which will be followed up by another round of financing to support the company’s commercial activity.
The pilot will run in conjunction with CommuniCare Family of Companies, Longevity’s parent company, and major U.S. health care enterprise with more than 90 facilities in the U.S. In addition to this pilot, OutSense is also conducting clinical trials in Israel as well as a pilot in Japan.
OutSense developed an optical IoT device that can be attached to any toilet bowl. The solution includes multi-spectral optical sensors, a light source and an autonomous inspection device that includes a Wi-Fi connection. The device scans the human waste, identifies the optical footprint of the feces and urine components, sends the data for AI cloud-based analysis, and then supplies indications of various diseases at an extremely high proven level of precision.
The device currently enables the identification of blood in the stool, which is often a sign of colorectal cancer, an application that has been granted a patent in the U.S, Japan, Europe, and China. In addition, the company has developed special applications for elderly care institutions that permit continuous monitoring and remote diagnosis of dehydration, urinary tract infections, diarrhea, constipation as well as monitoring and diagnosing the routine use of the toilet.
OutSense’s solution serves as a replacement for the manual collection of human waste and delivery to labs. Many people defer or delay these types of tests, and in too many cases various diseases are discovered too late. Often the difference in the time between tests is lengthy and this can lead to a delay in diagnosing the disease, expensive hospitalizations, and a deterioration in the disease.
The OutSense technology constantly monitors the patient’s waste and provides automatic alerts to the control screens of the medical teams at elderly care facilities and medical institutions as well as a cellular app for use by people who use the company’s solution at private homes. The tests are conducted in a totally discreet manner and the data allows continuous monitoring of a patient’s health situation. The data also enables personalized care at the highest level without impacting daily routine.
OutSense recently launched several clinical trials in Israel, including a trial conducted in conjunction with the gastroenterological department at Tel Aviv’s Sourasky Medical Centre (Ichilov Hospital) and involves 50 patients. As part of the research, the OutSense device will be installed in the toilets at the patients’ homes to monitor their excretions. The participants will also be checked for blood in their stool using the existing lab method, and this is to be followed up by a colonoscopy exam. The objective of the research is to validate the clinical efficiency of the OutSense device in a real use environment.
Yfat Scialom, CEO of OutSense noted, “The access to real-use environments that the Longevity’s investment brings to the table is invaluable. The ability to partner with a major U.S. health care provider serves as a signal to the market that the rules of the game can be changed. It signals that early detection of more diseases through our technology can save huge amounts in healthcare costs, and more importantly save lives. The pilot tests in the U.S and Japan, as well as the clinical trials in Israel are an important milestone toward our plan to launch production and commercial sales which are planned for Q1 2022.”
Dr. Mathew Wayne, chief medical officer for CommuniCare stated, “Our decision to partner with OutSense on this pilot is a win-win for advancing health outcomes forward. As a company we are always seeking innovative ways to transform the way we care for our residents and patients, and the OutSense vision and technology certainly shows enormous promise toward those efforts.”