Medtech start-up, Capitainer, has announced that it has closed a share issue of SEK 15 million to commersialize its new dried blood spot sampling solution.

Lead investors are Nordic Consumer Health and the US-based Wolf Family Trust, joined by a consortium of Nordic angel investors and Capitainer management.

“The dried blood spot collection card market size is currently expected to reach USD 337.3 million by 2026, expanding at a CAGR of 3.5%. However, with our next generation device, Capitainer qDBS with quantitative and easy to use sampling, we will not only expand the existing market, but also be able to enter the clinical home sampling market which we believe is a billion dollar USD market. We aim at making Capitainer products the new gold standard for home sampling of blood. As a founding investor, we are delighted to lead this round and look forward to a successful commercialization,” says Mats Bergryd, CEO of Nordic Consumer Health.

Convenient and quantitative blood sampling

The company’s dried blood spot sampling solution Capitainer qDBS is designed to enable convenient and quantitative blood sampling at the fingertip. The patented solution ensures an exact sample volume of 10µl blood to be collected, states the company. Patients place a blood drop on the qDBS card which automatically fills a microchannel with the required amount and discards any excess, describes the company in its press release. Subsequently, the blood volume contained in the microchannel automatically transfers to a pre-punched DBS paper, forming a high-quality dried blood spot sample, preserved for quantitative analysis. The filled card can then be safely transported to the laboratory for analysis without the need for refrigeration or specialized packaging.

“Over the last 12 months, we have seen a growing interest in Capitainer qDBS for both existing and new applications such as therapeutic drug monitoring, genomics and screening applications. With the fast growing demands for home sampling, we strongly believe that capillary blood will increasingly be seen as a viable and preferable alternative to venous blood. I would like to thank our investors, both new and existing, for their confidence and this funding will now enable us to accelerate our commercialisation activities for Capitainer qDBS,” says Christopher Aulin, CEO of Capitainer.