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People with chronic kidney disease or those at risk of heart failure are greatly affected by potassium imbalances in the body. These can even be life-threatening. While wearable glucose monitors are now commonplace and have transformed the lives of diabetes patients, potassium monitoring is in its infancy, as it’s hard to do. Now startups are emerging to address the problem.
Proton Intelligence is a Canada-based startup developing a continuous potassium monitoring product. It has now closed a $6.95 million seed round led by SOSV. Clinical trials are underway for the product, which is due to launch in 2025.
Proton is developing a small device that would be inserted just below the skin in order to monitor potassium levels. This would connect with a smartphone app so that patients can monitor their potassium levels and get notifications if their levels move out of a safe range, based on lifestyle choices like diet or medication.
A clinician dashboard will provide a view of a patient’s potassium trends, and care teams will be able to use the data to fine-tune therapies.
The company was co-founded by CEO Sahan Ranamukhaarachchi (based in Vancouver, Canada) and CSO Victor Cadarso (based in Melbourne).
The two founded the startup after working on wearable biosensors as researchers in Switzerland 10 years ago. Ranamukhaarachchi went on to found a skin-based drug delivery startup (Microdermics), while Cadarso became a professor in micro- and nano-sensors at Monash University in Melbourne. Proton has a commercial-focused HQ in Canada and a wholly owned R&D-focused subsidiary in Melbourne, Australia.
Ranamukhaarachchi told TechCrunch the team did over 100 in-depth interviews with care teams to research their product. “These highlighted the devastating consequences of ‘flying blind’ when managing potassium levels, because delays in monitoring often lead to preventable hospitalizations, stopping therapies, or even sudden cardiac death,” he said.
He described how patients talked about “a constant fear of potassium imbalances, questioning if eating a single banana or missing a blood test” could affect their health or even put their lives at risk.
The problem is real. Some 10% of the population worldwide is affected by chronic kidney disease, and thousands die each year because they do not have access to affordable treatment.
Proton competes with a number of other emerging firms in the sector.
AliveCor estimates potassium levels indirectly by detecting cardiac activity (it’s raised $154.3 million to date). Alio does potassium monitoring in dialysis patients (it has raised $46 million). Renalyse out of Spain measures potassium via finger-prick blood samples (it has raised €1 million). There are, of course, several others.
That said, Proton’s founders claim that its solution will be more scalable: “No other technology currently offers this level of usability, accuracy, and clinical impact,” said Ranamukhaarachchi.
In a statement, Mohan S. Iyer, general partner at SOSV, said: “We are proud to be the first institutional investor in Proton Intelligence … and we are excited to continue to support them as they move into clinical validation.”
The seed round also saw participation from We Venture Capital, Tenmile, LongeVC, 15th Rock, Exor, and Trampoline Venture Partners.
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Mike Butcher (M.B.E.) is Editor-at-large of TechCrunch. He has written for UK national newspapers and magazines and been named one of the most influential people in European technology by Wired UK. He has spoken at the World Economic Forum, Web Summit, and DLD. He has interviewed Tony Blair, Dmitry Medvedev, Kevin Spacey, Lily Cole, Pavel Durov, Jimmy Wales, and many other tech leaders and celebrities. Mike is a regular broadcaster, appearing on BBC News, Sky News, CNBC, Channel 4, Al Jazeera and Bloomberg. He has also advised UK Prime Ministers and the Mayor of London on tech startup policy, as well as being a judge on The Apprentice UK. GQ magazine named him one of the 100 Most Connected Men in the UK. He is the co-founder ThePathfounder.com newsletter; TheEuropas.com (the Annual European Tech Startup Conference & Awards for 12 years); and the non-profits Techfugees.com, TechVets.co, and Coadec.com. He was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2016 for services to the UK technology industry and journalism.
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