Sisu Global, an all-women led, Baltimore-based, medical device startup, announced today that it has raised $1.2M in a convertible note round to a total of $3.1M raised to-date. Sisu is focused on emerging markets and this round will fund the African sales launch of their first product, Hemafuse: a handheld, electricity-free autotransfusion device that enables clinicians to reuse a patient’s own blood when they’re hemorrhaging. Three billion dollars is being spent on blood each year across Africa and yet there is a 50% shortage of the blood needed. Hemafuse fills this critical gap, providing access to blood anywhere there is a surgeon; from large hospitals in cities, to remote villages, and even conflict zones. Hemafuse is just the first of a portfolio of devices that Sisu is building to bring a revolutionary change in addressing the shortage of medical devices that are specifically designed for emerging markets.
As stated by George Petrocheilos, a General Partner of Camden Partners Nexus, and a member of the Board of Directors of Sisu Global, “We are very excited with the tremendous progress Sisu has made since we first invested in June 2016. With the launch in Africa, Carolyn & her team are demonstrating great ability to execute. Also thrilled to see Revolution and other sophisticated private investors joining us as backers of Sisu’s innovative approach in serving unique medical device needs in emerging markets.”
The investors in this round include second investments from Camden Partners, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund (Revolution is led by Steve Case, co-founder of AOL), and Belle Michigan. New investors include the Women’s Angel Investor Network of Dubai, Kent & Russell Croft, and Johns Hopkins University Trustee Chuck Clarvit.
“It’s great to have the support such top-level investing talent who have provided so much beyond capital, giving us great advice and insights, especially as we launch Hemafuse in Africa” said Carolyn Yarina, co-founder and CEO of Sisu Global. Receiving the backing of leading VCs and angel investors is a positive sign of their confidence in the company’s future.
One of the leading investors to continue their support in Sisu Global is Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Fund. J.D. Vance, Managing Partner of the Fund, said “As a fund focused on companies that are transforming industries, we couldn’t be more excited to further invest in Sisu’s work to design medical devices for emerging markets. Sisu is yet another example of a great company starting and scaling outside of the coastal tech hubs.”
Sisu is transforming the way we think about blood access with Hemafuse and is transforming the way we approach medical device design and commercialization in emerging markets.
Sisu Global is a Baltimore-based company with global reach. As Sisu’s newest Dubai-based investors, the Women’s Angel Investor Network (WAIN) of Dubai, put it: “We are pleased to join this funding round for Sisu since we are strong believers in the team, product and market opportunity. We see potential for massive growth across emerging markets where different medtech solutions are needed, ” stated Heather Henyon, the Founder of the WAIN. That is where Sisu sees both a great commercial opportunity and an opportunity to build a better world.
Sisu Global has won numerous awards including the First Mile Innovation Challenge backed by GE Healthcare and CAMTech (Massachusetts General Hospital) and Revolution’s Rise of the Rest pitch competition. They have been featured by USA Today, the Smithsonian.com, Entrepreneur Magazine, Fast Company, Business Insider, and Mashable. Sisu has also proven to be a capital efficient company. The average medical device of a similar class as designated by the US FDA costs $31M just to get through regulatory approval in the US. With less than 10% of the average development cost, Sisu not only achieved two key regulatory clearances in Africa, but they also launched sales of Hemafuse in Africa.
Carolyn Yarina, Co-Founder and CEO said, “We are excited to announce the launch of Hemafuse in Africa and to welcome our newest investors to the Sisu family.”
About Sisu Global
Sisu Global is an award-winning company that designs world-class, clinically proven, patented, medical devices for emerging markets. Hospitals in emerging markets cannot access the equipment that they need, because 80% of medical technologies are designed for 10% of the world’s population. Sisu bridges this gap by designing and commercializing medical devices with and for emerging markets, starting in Africa. In 2014 the medical device market in Africa was $3.9B, but Frost and Sullivan predicts it will reach $16B in 2020. With five technologies in its portfolio, Sisu sets to prove its model with Hemafuse: a handheld device that enables clinicians to recycle blood from patients with internal bleeding, reducing the need for donor blood. Hemafuse collects blood from an internal hemorrhage and is designed to be used in surgery for emergency situations. Sisu has just begun sales of Hemafuse in Africa with Kenya being its launch country.
Sisu Global is proud to be a women-led company to have a great diversity of investors including: Camden Partners, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Belle Michigan, the Women’s Angel Investor Network of Dubai, Kent & Russell Croft, Johns Hopkins University Trustee Chuck Clarvit, Nancy Philippart, X Squared Angels (incl. Shelley Bird, Executive VP of Cardinal Health), Maryland’s TEDCO, the Abell Foundation, Better Ventures, DreamIt Ventures, Johns Hopkins University, BioHealth Innovation, Futuretech, Keiretsu Capital, Conscious Venture Labs, Patrick Ring, Kate Williams, and Rafael "Tres" Duyos.
About Camden Partners Nexus Fund
Camden Partners is Baltimore-based private equity firm that spun-out of T. Rowe Price in 1995. Camden Partners Nexus was founded in 2016 and is the firm’s venture capital strategy, investing in breakthrough biomedical technologies (drugs, devices, diagnostics) with strong intellectual property & existing federal funding, coming out of leading academic & research institutions and the labs of world-renowned scientists entrepreneurs.
About Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund
Rise of the Rest is a nationwide effort powered by Revolution to invest in and work closely with entrepreneurs in emerging startup ecosystems. Since 2014, Steve Case and the Revolution team have logged more than 10,000 miles touring entrepreneurial communities by bus in 38 cities. In 2017, Case and JD Vance announced a $150 million ROTR Fund, backed by a group of iconic entrepreneurs, executives and investors that believe the next great startup investments are located outside of coastal cities. Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund invests catalytic capital, often alongside regional investors, to the most promising early stage investments in Rise of the Rest cities. For more information, please visit: www.revolution.com/rotr or follow us on Twitter @RiseOfRest.
About Women’s Angel Investor Network
The Women’s Angel Investor Network (WAIN) is the first and largest women’s angel group in the Middle East region. WAIN invests in seed rounds of women-led tech start-ups with operations and/or customers in the MENA region. WAIN has 50 female angel investor members who are mainly Dubai-based and has made 9 investments to date.
About Belle Michigan
The BELLE Michigan Fund, LP is an early stage investment fund building great women owned companies in Michigan, the Midwest, and other underserved regions. BELLE’s female founders and limited partners provide a premier source of human and financial capital to women-led companies they invest in. They look for capital-efficient enterprises with a unique product or service that fill an urgent market need. BELLE has made 20 investments in 14 companies. www.michbelles.com
