Developer of autonomous blood collection devices raises $20 million

Vitestro, which focuses on developing fully autonomous blood collection devices, raises $20 million from backers. The company plans to use the money to commercialize its robotic blood collection device.

Doctors and nurses worldwide take blood samples from patients billions of times a year. Utrecht’s Vitestro wants to automate this process with its autonomous blood collection technology, thus relieving the burden on healthcare. By automating the workflow surrounding blood collections, blood collection should take fewer man-hours, which helps to ensure continuity of care.

Automated from A to Z

Vitestro’s technology combines artificial intelligence (AI)-based ultrasound guided imaging with robotic needle insertion. The entire process surrounding blood collection, from placing a band around the arm to placing a cotton swab after the collection, is automated. This reduces the dependence on manual actions, thus relieving the burden on healthcare and helping to improve the satisfaction of both patients and healthcare workers.

In the clinical development of the technology, Vitestro collaborates with various European hospitals and laboratories, including OLVG Lab, Result Laboratory and St. Antonius Hospital. Several European hospitals have already signed a pre-order for the autonomous blood collection devices. They are expected to deploy the first devices at the end of this year.

Founded by Toon Overbeeke and Brian Joseph

Vitestro was founded by Toon Overbeeke (CEO) and Brian Joseph (commercial director). After his master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering at TU Delft, Overbeeke worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company in Amsterdam, where he focused on strategic topics and private equity. Joseph graduated from TU Delft with a master’s degree in geophysics and previously worked as a consultant for Arthur D. Little. Joseph Zarafa also founded and served as CEO at the helm of this software company, which focuses on open source communications software. Zarafa was later acquired by Amazon.

Vitestro’s management team also consists of:

• Bert Wiggers, Technical
• Demi Hamwijk, People & Culture
• Jasmine Beukema, Quality & Regulatory
• Jim Lelivelt, Financial
• Luuk Giesen, Medical

Various parties invest

During the most recent financing round, the Utrecht company raised money from various parties. The financing round was co-led by Sonder Capital. NYBC Ventures, Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) and various existing private investors are also investing money in Vitestro. The company raises a total of 22 million euros.

In recent years, Vitestro has received a total of 46 million euros in financing and subsidies. It wants to use the latest funding to expand its team and respond to the growing demand for autonomous blood collection devices. On the one hand, the company focuses on commercialization within Europe, while on the other hand it focuses on its organizational expansion to the American market. Vitestro also wants to further develop its product and make additional product functions available.

‘Extend reach’

“We are honored to continue our partnership with Sonder Capital and are proud to welcome NYBC Ventures, Invest-NL and EIC Fund as new investors,” said Toon Overbeeke, CEO and co-founder of Vitestro. “The feedback on our innovation from hospitals, staff and patients has been very positive, and we are poised to rapidly expand our reach and impact globally.”

“With Vitestro’s technological breakthrough, clinical laboratories are perfectly positioned to improve patient care and streamline their healthcare operations,” said Dr. Fred Moll, managing partner at Sonder Capital and co-founder of Intuitive Surgical, the company behind the da Vinci surgical robot. “The workload for healthcare staff is unprecedentedly high, partly due to an aging population and high staff turnover. This makes it increasingly difficult for laboratories to provide timely, accurate test results. We are excited about the progress Vitestro is making and believe they will quickly modernize the blood collection experience.”

Brian Joseph, commercial director and co-founder of Vitestro adds: “Our technology represents a major step forward in healthcare, benefiting both hospitals and patients. We are actively expanding our activities in other key international markets, particularly in the United States.”

ADOPT study

Vitestro also conducts the ADOPT study. The research focuses on optimizing autonomous blood collections and testing the performance of such systems. The Utrecht-based company expects to obtain CE approval for its device by the end of 2024. The first deliveries of the device are also expected to take place at that time.

Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Photo: Vitestro