JDRF backs Bigfoot Biomedical with equity investment

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said today that its T1D Fund made an unspecified equity investment in Bigfoot Biomedical and the Smartloop automated insulin delivery system it’s developing.

“We are thrilled to have a fund associated with the world’s largest nonprofit funder of [Type I diabetes] research as an investor,” Bigfoot president & CEO Jeffrey Brewer said in prepared remarks. “Bigfoot is leveraging the work previously done by JDRF to prove feasibility for automated insulin delivery and define a regulatory path for approval by the FDA. The investment in Bigfoot by the T1D Fund helps ensure competition and choice for the community of people who need a better way to live safely and thrive with T1D. JDRF is a partner who supports our vision of automated insulin delivery usable by anyone with T1D, supportable by any doctor, and fully covered by insurance.”

Bigfoot bills the Smartloop system as “the world’s first Internet-of-Things medical device system delivered as a monthly service,” based on a “cloud-connected ecosystem” designed to link wearable insulin delivery and glucose monitoring devices controlled via smartphone. Brewer and co-founder & CTO Bryan “Bigfoot” Mazlish put up the seed funding for the company after Mazlish designed a prototype automated insulin delivery system in 2014 for his wife and son.

In June 2015, the company acquired the assets of shuttered insulin pump maker Asante and moved into its Silicon Valley HQ, saying it planned to integrate Asante’s FDA-cleared Snap insulin pump into its own system. A year later, Bigfoot launched a clinical trial of the Smartloop platform. The company said yesterday that it’s inked deals with “leading glucose monitoring companies,” including Dexcom (NSDQ:DXCM) and now employs some 40 workers.

In October, Milpitas, Calif.-based Bigfoot raised a $35.5 million Series A round led by Quadrant Capital Advisors that included backing from Cormorant Asset Management, Senvest Capital, and Visionnaire Ventures. Bigfoot said at the time that it plans to use the proceeds to fund the final development of the Smartloop system.

The post JDRF backs Bigfoot Biomedical with equity investment appeared first on MassDevice.

from MassDevice http://ift.tt/2jjOnBz