A new health technology company founded by a former Dundee University medical student has secured investment of £2 million for the development of its market-changing product.
Chris McCann’s snap40 has received what is understood to be the largest ever sum of its kind awarded to a Scottish start-up.
The snap40 is a wearable armband that continuously monitors patients’ vital signs and sends out a SOS via analysis software to medical staff if it detects signs of serious illness.
Swifter action can be taken to treat the patient who may have a life-threatening condition. Early intervention can certainly allow an improved outcome so that the patient can return home sooner.
He started the company as a medical student at Dundee. He was working on hospital wards where patients were intermittently monitored, and saw some of them deteriorating due to the late recognition of warning signs.
He realised early detection could prevent their condition from worsening, and with co-founders David Bowie and Stewart Whiting, created snap40.
Leaving medical school in his third year, he built the company in a market worth over $35 billion featuring mainly large multi-national companies making expensive bed-side monitors for critical care.
There was no single device aimed at early detection of deterioration.
Initially, snap40 was developed as a wristband but it was changed after trials found it worked better when placed round the patient’s upper arm.
The first tranche of the £2m investment – led by Edinburgh-based investment firm Par Equity – will allow snap40 to grow its engineering and data science team, complete clinical trials and gain regulatory clearance.
The process would open the EU market, which it plans to enter next year, and an office in the United States would be next on the agenda.
Substantial customer interest has already been received, including a contract with NHS England.
Chris McCann said: “This investment is based on the strength of our product and the progress of our amazing team.
“We are excited to work with Par Equity and the rest of our shareholders as we build snap40 into a dominant player in the global people-health monitoring market.
“We have a product that can save lives, while providing clinical and economic benefits to health services.”
Robert Higginson, Partner at Par Equity, said “This is a global market with significant potential and we believe snap40 is the company to succeed.”
