Investment dollars are flocking to life sciences startup Canary Medical Inc.
The Vancouver-based medical data firm has drawn US$10 million from the Global Health Sciences fund, backed by Quark Venture Inc. and Chinese investment bank GF Securities Ltd.
Quark, which is also headquartered in Vancouver, announced the deal May 17.
The US$10 million in funding is part of two tranches totalling US$26 million. Other participants include Vancouver-based Relentless Pursuit Partners’ venture fund and Australia’s BioScience Managers.
Canary specializes in remote patient monitoring through its Canary health implantable reporting processor (CHIRP).
The company plans to use its CHIRP system to monitor real-time activity on implanted medical devices.
"One of the problems with wearable health and fitness monitors is that people forget to wear them, wear them only when they're going to be active, or get bored with them and stash them away in their night table drawer," Canary CEO Bill Hunter said in a release.
"Wearable data is just not adequate, accurate, or continuous enough to base important medical decisions upon it.”
He added that the US$10 million funding would help with the development of a so-called “smart” artificial knee implant through to its commercial release.
Hunter is also CEO of fellow Vancouver-based life sciences company Cardiome Pharma Corp., which divested its Canadian business portfolio earlier this year for $25 million to focus on the European market.
