Singapore medical tech start-up raises $40 million

Existing backers Advanced MedTech and Enterprise Singapore also participated, with the latter contributing via its Seeds Capital arm. The investment, which brings the company’s total capital raised to at least $60 million, is being called the largest-ever funding round in the local medical technology space.

Awak’s core product is a portable, purse-sized device that provides dialysis therapy. This includes a six to eight-hour hemodialysis session, whereby blood from the patient passes through a machine and is purified of toxins. The company says miniaturization of the technology allows users to have more freedom of movement and lifestyle.

The device, known as Awak Peritoneal Dialysis or Awak PD, has been granted “breakthrough device” designation by the US Food and Drug Administration. It is expected to be the subject of an industry study in the next 12-18 months ahead of discussions with global regulatory bodies around achieving the necessary clearances for commercialization.

“The global market for dialysis is $80 billion,” Abel Ang, chairman of Awak and group CEO at Advanced MedTech, said in a statement. “Awak’s PD device holds the potential to categorically disrupt the dialysis industry by reducing the complexity of care for people with end-stage kidney disease and give them their life back.”

The World Health Organization estimates 2.6 million people were receiving dialysis treatments as of 2010 and that this figure will double by 2010. This niche attracted PE attention in Asia as recently as October, when ARQ Capital, a Philippines-based GP, invested an undisclosed sum in Medline, a local dialysis clinic operator that says its portfolio is growing at a rate of 1-2 branches per month.

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Save this article  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Southeast Asia
• Healthcare
• Technology
• Early-stage
• Singapore
• Vickers Venture Partners
• manufacturing