Health systems are increasingly serving as test beds for and investors in innovative technology solutions. As an example, Intermountain Healthcare has made an investment in Velano Vascular, the maker of a needle-free blood collection device.
San Francisco-based Velano announced that it has secured $10 million as the initial tranche of a growth financing to fuel commercialization and the launch of its vascular access solutions. This additional financing brings Velano’s total investment to more than $37 million from a mix of healthcare companies, health systems, healthcare industry veterans and venture capital firms
This initial investment includes participation from Intermountain Healthcare following the system’s rollout of the PIVO needle-free blood collection technology; Becton Dickinson’s former Chairman and CEO Edward Ludwig; entrepreneur, investor and health sector philanthropist Marc Benioff; Baxter International’s former Chairman and CEO Robert Parkinson; Kapor Capital; and other undisclosed investors.
Salt Lake City-based Intermountain previously collaborated with San Francisco-based Velano Vascular to test, refine and pilot the company’s needle-free PIVO technology. The FDA-approved device expands the use of peripheral IV lines for frequent, high-quality blood draws.
Following hundreds of thousands of successful blood draws, Intermountain was the first health system in the United States to deploy PIVO systemwide as a standard of care, the company said. In 2018, Velano expanded the use of its blood collection technologies to 10 states and to dozens of U.S. hospitals.
“As the first health system in the U.S. to bring PIVO to our inpatient populations, we have witnessed the many positive impacts of Velano’s vision for a one-stick hospitalization firsthand,” said Intermountain Healthcare President and CEO Marc Harrison, M.D., in a statement. “We are thrilled to deepen our commitment to Velano and help deliver a new, more humane standard of care for all patients.”
A portion of the funds will be deployed toward a manufacturing line currently under construction in the United States, Velano said.
