The latest funding will help Galway-based Bluedrop more than double its employee headcount this year.
Irish medtech Bluedrop Medical is planning to create 25 new jobs this year on the back of a €10.5m funding raise co-led by Atlantic Bridge and Elkstone.
Founded by Chris Murphy and Simon Kiersey in 2015, Bluedrop is a Galway-based start-up that has developed remote patient monitoring technology for those with diabetic foot ulcers.
According to the company, more than 250,000 amputations associated with diabetes occur each year across the US and Europe, resulting in healthcare costs of more than €30bn.
In 2021, 645 of those amputations took place in Ireland, an increase of 45pc over the previous decade.
“This new funding is a testament to the huge amount of work our team has put in to developing a world class product that addresses a serious and growing medical need,” Murphy said.
“The patients we target have lost feeling in their feet and have a 40pc annual risk of developing a diabetic foot ulcer, with many leading to amputation. Almost all of these amputations are preventable.”
Bluedrop has previously raised €3.7m in 2019 and won the top prize at the 2021 Roche Diabetes Care Innovation Challenge in the US. In December 2021, Bluedrop was one of two Irish start-ups to receive funding from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator.
“Our mission is to reduce the risk of foot ulcers with a system that is both easy to use for the patient, and of zero burden to the healthcare system,” Murphy added. “This latest funding allows us to get closer to our goal of becoming the gold standard method of remote patient monitoring for the diabetic foot.”
Both Murphy and Kiersey are graduates of Bank of Ireland’s six-month incubator StartLab. After founding Bluedrop, they were joined by CTO Gavin Corley and a team of experts in electronic medical devices, cloud software and AI.
The latest funding will see Bluedrop more than double its current headcount of 17 to 42 this year. Roles on offer range from engineering and product development to manufacturing, with engineering and development roles to be based in Ireland while commercial roles will be in the US.
Other backers of the round include the European Innovation Council Fund, Furthr VC, Western Development Commission, Ascentifi, and HBAN’s MedTech and Irrus Investments syndicates.
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