Medical imaging company iThera spun out of Helmholtz Zentrum München in 2010 and has now been backed by lighting products maker Osram.
iThera Medical, a Germany-based medical imaging spinout of environmental health research centre Helmholtz Zentrum München, secured a seven-digit euro (€1m = $1.1m) sum today from investors including lighting products manufacturer Osram.
BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft, an investment division of Bavarian government funding agency LfA Förderbank Bayern, also took part in the round, as did regional VC fund Wachstumsfonds Bayern.
Osram backed iThera through corporate venturing subsidiary Fluxunit.
Founded in 2010, iThera Medical makes biomedical imaging systems based on a technique called multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSot) that deploys a photoacoustic effect, converting light energy into sound, to outline anatomical, functional and molecular information from deep tissues in real-time.
The approach is already used to examine disease processes at molecular level and to analyse the impact of therapeutic candidates on small animals.
iThera is working on clinical diagnostic applications of MSot for diseases including melanoma and breast cancer based on the quantification of biomarker molecules such as haemoglobin and melanin.
The funding will facilitate further development of MSot and support iThera’s entry into the clinical market.
iThera closed a series A round of undisclosed size in 2011 co-led by BayBG Bayerische Beteiligungsgesellschaft and Mey Capital Matrix.