News

Cheetah Medical Inc., a Newton-based company making non-invasive blood monitoring system, received $5 million in venture capitalist funding from HighCape Partners.

Chris Hutchison, president and chief executive officer, said the company is already in over 200 hospitals in the U.S. and over 50 countries worldwide, but the funding will help fuel more commercial activities and increase clinical programs.

“We’re at a stage where we’re going through a high rate of growth, and we see the opportunity to accelerate some of our programs,” Hutchison said. “This will help us to do that.”

HighCape joins a number of other investors in the company, including MVM Life Science Partners LLP, Ascension Health Ventures, Springfield Investments, Robert Bosch Venture Capital, and Fletcher Spaght Inc.

Fletcher had headlined a $9 million investment in February, Hutchison said. A provision of the deal was for the company to find another $5 million under the same terms, which HighCape accomplishes.

There is a large opportunity for growth, Hutchison said. The billion-dollar market has implications for patients in an intensive care unit, in surgery, and in the emergency room. The tool allows doctors to monitor and address problems within the blood without having to use needles.

“You place four EKG electrodes in the thorax and we can tell you a lot about what’s going on,” Hutchison said.

The tool is also practical for monitoring sepsis awareness and a patient’s wellbeing in surgical settings. Deployment of the device is simple, Hutchison said, and the interruption to existing workflow patterns is minor.

“We seem to have a real breakthrough technology,” he said.