Resistell Raises CHF 3.5 Million to Certify its Blood Infection Testing Device
17.12.2019
Resistell AG, the Swiss startup developing the world's fastest phenotypic antibiotic susceptibility test, will use the funding to achieve CE-mark approval for its first device testing blood stream infections. OCCIDENT lead the oversubscribed series A round, which was joined by TRUMPF Venture, Alpana Ventures, Zürcher Kantonalbank, HEMEX and private investors.
 Resistell's team
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Resistell won pre-seed support and training from Venture Kick in 2018. The Muttenz, Switzerland-based startup also ranked at the TOP 100 Swiss Startup Award this year.
“In this round it was very important for us to attract new institutional investors who on one hand will contribute to the strategic development of the company and on the other hand will be able to support us in the long run,” said CEO and co-founder, Danuta Cichocka.
"Venture Kick helped us refine our business case and gave us many precious hints on how to make it more compelling for investors. We met half our seed investors during our second Venture Kick pitch presentation."
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest global health challenges today. The emergence of multi-drug resistant pathogens has made it increasingly difficult to choose the right antibiotic in time for critically ill patients. As a result, physicians are frequently turning to broad-spectrum antibiotics to reduce the risk of administering non-effective drugs. Excessive use of these powerful medicines then triggers the development of multi-drug resistance. Unless we can halt this trend, the world faces a death toll of up to 10 million people per year by 2050.
To positively influence the outcome of antimicrobial treatment, it is essential to speedily determine which antibiotics the pathogen still responds to. The EPFL spin-off Resistell has been able to successfully achieve reliable antibiotic susceptibility results up to 100 times faster than conventional, culture-based methods. Resistell’s test is based on measurement of vibrations of living bacteria from the sample by using nanosensors. This reduces the time-to-result from several hours or days to less than two hours. Patients can be treated with the optimal medication from day one.
The need for rapid, antibiotic susceptibility tests is unquestionable. Some market analysts estimate the potential market size for these tests at CHF 4.5 billion in 2026 (Coherent Market Insights 2018).