ClearCount Medical Solutions Inc. raised $1.1 million in the first tranche of a Series B funding round it hopes will total $5 million.
The funding was detailed in a regulatory filing and confirmed by CFO Dave Haffner.
The company plans to use the money to further support its exclusive distribution deal (PDF) with Medline Industries Inc., which the companies first announced in December.
ClearCount has raised about $12.5 million since its founding in 2004. Its $3.4 million Series A round last year was led by Pittsburgh’s Draper Triangle Ventures. Along with other existing backers, Draper also participated in the latest funding. Haffner said he expects to the VC firm to add more as ClearCount collects more capital in the round.
The latest funding comes from the sale of debt, options and warrants to 13 investors.
ClearCount’s SmartSponge and SmartWand systems use radio-frequency identification technology coupled with chips embedded in sponges to allow surgeons and nurses to count and detect sponges used in operations. The goal is to help hospitals avoid leaving sponges inside patients, a type of so-called "never event" — serious and costly medical errors that are never supposed to occur.
