Chicago shows the PhysIQs of investment

PhysIQ, a life sciences spin-out incubated by Chicago University, has raised $4.6m in its series A round. The round was led by venture capital firm LionBird.

Originally known as VGBio, Chicago University awarded the company $75,000 in 2011 through its Innovation Fund. The money allowed the company to conduct a study of its predictive analytic technology, which is based on research undertaken at the Argonne National Laboratory. The university stayed involved in the company following the study, and supported its growth via UChicagoTech, the Centre for Technology Development and Ventures.

The success of PhysIQ is part of the reason why Chicago University has expanded its Innovation Fund to $20m, to be managed by the newly created Chicago Innovation Exchange.

PhysIQ is able to analyse data such as heart rate, blood pressure and respiration, which is then used to understand what kind of clinical attention, if any, is needed. The technology was initially developed as an early warning system tracking the functioning of nuclear power plants. That approach was later commercialised as SmartSignal in 1999, and acquired by General Electric in 2011.

Although the PhysIQ platform is not specific to any one disease, the company has so far been focusing on congestive heart failure and on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung disease characterised by shortness of breath and usually caused by tobacco.

The company is hoping to gain US Food and Drug Administration approval and enter the market in 2015.

Gary Conkright, chief executive at PhysIQ, said: “Without UChicagoTech’s early support, PhysIQ’s series A funding would have been much more difficult, if not impossible. In order to attract series A investors, we needed clinical data demonstrating that our technology works on human physiology. Meanwhile, to generate that data we needed capital. It was a chicken-and-egg scenario until UChicagoTech and the Innovation Fund got us over the hump. Their review panel gave us valuable feedback and provided contacts from which we are still benefitting.”