Retham raises $1.5M seed to speed up blood-clot diagnosis
What's the deal? Retham TechnologiesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has closed an initial $1.5 million seed round led by Talents FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, with participation from Golden Angels InvestorsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Milwaukee Venture PartnersDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The Milwaukee-area diagnostics company will use the money to advance HITDx, a functional test for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT).
What's the endgame? HIT is a potentially life-threatening immune reaction to heparin, one of the world's most widely used blood thinners, that can trigger dangerous clots as platelet counts fall. Current frontline immunoassays produce many false positives, while the gold-standard functional test is slow, requires fresh donor platelets, and runs only at specialised reference labs.
HITDx aims to deliver rapid, accurate functional results in hospital and clinical labs. It relies on Retham's cryopreserved platelet technology, which removes the need to source fresh donor platelets — the main logistical bottleneck.
Who's behind it? The technology was created by founders Dr. Anand Padmanabhan and Curtis Jones and licensed exclusively from Mayo ClinicDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. "HIT demands a reliable answer quickly, but access to fresh donor platelets limits functional testing," said Jones, the company's vice president of research and innovation.
Why now? The seed round complements $4.8 million in non-dilutive funding from the National Institutes of HealthDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, including a recent $2.8 million Phase IIB Small Business Innovation Research award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood InstituteDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →.
The company plans to move HITDx through clinical validation, FDA 510(k) clearance, manufacturing scale-up, and commercial readiness. "This financing and the NIH SBIR awards validate both the clinical need and Retham's commercial opportunity," said chief executive officer Steven Visuri.
The signal: At $1.5 million, Retham's raise sits toward the smaller end of seed deals, but the platform reaches beyond one product. The same cryopreserved platelet technology could support platelet immunology, blood research, and drug de-risking — a broader base than the lead diagnostic alone.
Read more: morningstar.com
