Needle-free glucose monitor maker Apollon raises $3.7M Series A
What's the deal? ApollonDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which develops non-invasive continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), has raised US$4.19M in a Series A round led by SBI InvestmentDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. NaverDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Korean distribution partner DaewoongDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → joined as strategic investors, alongside Korea Credit Guarantee FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and Mirae Science & Technology Holdings.
What's the endgame? Apollon measures blood sugar on the surface of the skin using Raman spectroscopy. Rather than analysing the full spectrum, it isolates only the wavelengths specific to glucose — a method that strips out optical parts while keeping sensitivity, shrinking the device to about half the size of a phone.
Where's the money going? Apollon will run a clinical feasibility study on patients at Harvard Medical School's Joslin Diabetes Center. The aim is to widen validation across diverse diabetic patients and support a De Novo clearance strategy with the US Food and Drug Administration. It has also been selected for Massachusetts's MeHI program, which covers part of the trial cost.
The round is part of more than US$8.38M raised to date across equity and government R&D support. Apollon has verified accuracy through joint clinical research with MIT's laser biomedical research center, with results published in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology .
Why now? Apollon set up a US entity in Boston in 2023 and completed the MassChallenge program. In July it added advisers including Medha Munshi, a Harvard Medical School professor and Joslin director, and Laurence Alberts, a former Boston Consulting Group executive with diabetes-device startup experience. It filed 54 patents, mostly in the US, and registered 21, including 17 in the US.
Chief executive officer Ahram Hong said the company "built up validation first in the US through clinical work, patents, and partnerships, and that result led to the domestic investment." He added that "the most competitive commercialisation technology for non-invasive CGMs will come from Korea."
The signal: A needle-free CGM would remove the biggest friction point in diabetes management, and Apollon is betting that US clinical and regulatory validation is the fastest route to that market. The round sits in the top range for its stage — near the 40th percentile by amount — signalling investor conviction despite the long path to FDA clearance.
Read more: wowtale.net
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
