Elektra Labs launches biometric monitoring platform and raises $2.9M seed funding

Healthcare security startup Elektra Labs has launched a new management product for biometric monitoring technologies and announced a $2.9 million seed funding round to improve infrastructure for the efficient and responsible deployment of wearables and connected biosensors, according to a company announcement.

The round was led by Maverick Ventures, with participation from Arkitekt Ventures, Boost VC, Founder Collective, Lux Capital, SV Angel, Village Global, and 16 angel investors.

“The increase in FDA clearances for digital health products coupled with heavy investment in technology has led to accelerated adoption of connected tools in both clinical trials and routine care. However, this adoption has not come without controversy,” explains Andy Coravos, co-founder and CEO of Elektra Labs. “During my time as an Entrepreneur in Residence in the FDA’s Digital Health Unit, it became clear to me that similar to pharmacies which review, prepare, and dispense drug components, our healthcare system needs infrastructure to review, prepare, and dispense connected technologies components. Questions around the security, accuracy and bias in the data from wearables have made researchers and developers confront the complexity of bringing these technologies to market. At Elektra, we set out to build that pharmacy-like infrastructure, and we’re excited to be supported by a seed round to help us get there.”

The new Atlas platform catalogs biometric technologies used in clinical trials and routine medical care, and simplifies the evaluation and deployment of connected tools collecting behavioral or physical measurement, the company says. Atlas will serve pharma, biotech, and contract research organizations, and act as a catalog of trustworthy monitoring technologies and biomarkers for decentralized trials. The platform provides technology labels which the company compares to drug or nutrition labels, identifying objective measures of validation, usability, utility, security, and data governance components.

Elektra Labs also plans to build infrastructure to support hospital systems and insurers.

“At Maverick, we’re always searching for disruptive brands who find ways to make the world easier; Andy and her team blew us away with their vision to build tools that allow researchers and clinicians to perform at the top of their game,” said Ambar Bhattacharyya, Managing Director at Maverick Ventures. “As accelerated adoption of consumer health technology increases, developers have had to face complex issues around accuracy and bias that stems from the collected data. We look forward to seeing Elektra Labs exercise their strengths in improving access to care.”

The global healthcare biometrics market has been forecast to reach $11.7 billion by 2024.

Article Topics

biometric monitoring  |  biometrics  |  funding  |  healthcare  |  investment  |  startup  |  wearables