Almaral Oy, founded in spring 2022 and focusing on health technology venture capital and business support services, has made a significant investment in the Finnish deep-tech startup Fepod Oy Ltd. The company’s electrochemical analysis method allows healthcare professionals to measure the true concentration of paracetamol, opioids, and other pain medicine in the blood directly at the point of care, and the result is available in seconds. Fepod has its sights set on the 100-billion-euro global diagnostics market. Of this total market, the share of point-of-care analytics is currently around 43% and is growing at an annual rate of over 9%.
Fepod’s technology has been developed for years, e.g. with funding from Business Finland at Aalto University, and early clinical studies of the technology have been completed at HUS. The testing equipment consists of a standard smart phone, an affordable, small potentiostat, and mass-produced and disposable sampling sensors. The machine-learning algorithms being developed by Fepod will make it possible to expand the business into new areas as the analysis database grows.
“Almaral’s significant investment will enable Fepod to take a step towards commercializing the technology. It allows us to begin the regulatory approval processes in both the United States and the EU. In addition to the capital we have received, we are very impressed with Almaral’s diverse team, which has a proven track record of building Finnish innovations into global success stories,” says Jussi Pyysalo, the founder and CEO of Fepod.
Almaral currently has about ten investment targets under active evaluation. The private equity investor’s new, holistic operating model has attracted a lot of interest, but rather than quantity, the company wants to focus on quality.
“Fepod was selected as our first investment because we recognized the company’s ambition and business opportunities. I am convinced that our expertise perfectly complements Fepod’s goals. We believe that the development of electrochemical point-of-care analytics will save huge amounts of money and lives worldwide,” says the CEO of Almaral, Dr. Maria Severina.
Fepod Oy Ltd was founded in February 2022 to commercialize the novel diagnostics method based on nano-carbon sensors, portable potentiostats and machine-learning algorithms. The founding team consists of the original core team from Aalto University as well as two co-founders who complement their skill sets.
Almaral invests in early-stage biotechnology and life science startups. Besides investment, Almaral offers guidance in risk management, building up long-term strategies, budgeting, setting up operational functions, legal support, setting up early-stage sales and marketing functions, and commercialization.
Contact:
Fepod:
Jussi Pyysalo, CEO
jussi.pyysalo@fepod.com
+358 400 789328
Almaral:
Maria Severina, CEO
info@almaral.eu
+358 405 540127