Calcivis said it raised $7.1 million (£4.5 million) in new equity and grant funding for its cavity detection technology.
Existing backers Archangel Investors and the Scottish Investment Bank put another $4.1 million (£2.6 million) into Edinburgh, Scotland-based Calcivis, the company said. Another $3.0 million (£1.9 million) in grant funding came from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 SME Instrument program, Calcivis said.
The proceeds are earmarked for the commercialization of Calcivis’s Caries Activity imaging system, which has already won CE Mark approval in the European Union, according to a press release. The company said it’s working to win FDA approval in the U.S. for thechemiluminescent device, which combines an intraoral camera and a photoprotein solution that binds to calcium ions and emits a blue light indicating caries lesion activity on the tooth.
“This substantial new investment and grant funding puts the company in a very strong position as we continue to work towards commercialization. The insight we gained from our successful clinical study has allowed us to refine the device ahead of a controlled market introduction in Europe, starting in the U.K. in late 2016. The new funds will also support us in our regulatory work in the US, the world’s largest dentistry market, where we see huge potential for the Calcivis system,” CEO Adam Christie in prepared remarks.