Ascendant closes a $3.1m oversubscribed Pre-Series A round for Altair

Ascendant Corporate Finance (“Ascendant”), the technology-focused corporate finance boutique, is pleased to announce that its client, Altair Medical Limited (“Altair” or the “Company”) – a digital health business developing a revolutionary sensor and AI platform for real-time respiratory monitoring – has raised $3.1 million in an oversubscribed Pre-Series A Round.  The round was led by Alba Equity and included Equity Gap, Intuitive Investment Group plc, London and Scottish Investment Partners, Scottish Enterprise and private investors.  Ascendant provided corporate finance advice to Altair on the fund raising.

Most people take their breathing for granted but their lungs are vital organs that are vulnerable to infection, disease and reduced function – resulting respiratory conditions are a leading cause of disability and death globally.  Altair’s respiratory sensor and real-time monitoring platform aims to detect and alert to adverse events from a range of breathing problems, with the hope of preventing a large number of early deaths.  In 2020, Altair’s potential was recognised by the US Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”) who awarded the Company Breakthrough Medical Device designation which facilitates early and faster engagement with the regulatory process.  With the platform’s global market opportunity estimated to be over $8 billion, the Company is confident that its unique technology will improve the medical outcomes of thousands of people globally. 

The Altair platform, which is undergoing patent and regulatory approval in the US and UK, has various unique properties that make it attractive for use in respiratory health applications in numerous clinical situations.  It is one of the smallest available biosensors and transmits data to a cloud platform using a data hub or smartphone.  Alerting the patient, their household members, doctor, nurse or emergency services where life-threatening changes occur, Altair’s technology will be able to accurately monitor very large numbers of patients in any location simultaneously.

The $3.1m Pre-Series A funding will be used to validate the performance characteristics of the technology prior to applying for regulatory clearance for a range of indications across the world, accelerate an extensive clinic trial programme and expand the team.

Commenting on the funding, Altair’s CEO, Dr Bruce Henderson, said:

“From my work as a forensic medical examiner I witnessed a large number of preventable deaths from patients with respiratory conditions.  This inspired me to build up a team of specialists to develop the technology, which is now undergoing clinical trials in a range of respiratory conditions.

We see huge potential for our device across a wide range of patients.  We are delighted to have secured the backing of a syndicate of investors, which allows us to further prove the platform and launch it in the UK, US and other countries in the near future. 

Ascendant, and Stuart McKnight in particular, started working with us last year and had an immediate impact on Altair’s fund raising efforts and helped us strategically position the business.  They guided us throughout the process from start right through to completion.  We look forward to working with them again on our Series A round next year.”

Stuart McKnight, Managing Director of Ascendant, said “We have been aware of Altair for some time and welcomed the opportunity to lead the fund raising for the Company.  Bruce and his colleagues are developing outstanding technology which is already demonstrating its potential to help save lives in ongoing clinical trials and this round of investment will allow the Altair to accelerate its development and bring its platform closer to regulatory approval and from there to market, offering significant benefits to a large number of patients.  We are already talking to potential investors for Altair’s Series A round next year!”

ABOUT ASCENDANT

Ascendant Corporate Finance specialises in advisory services for growing technology businesses.  With a wealth of experienced staff, Ascendant provides a wide range of services including advice on fund raising (equity and debt), disposals, acquisitions, exit planning and MBOs.  For further details, see www.ascendant.co.uk or contact:

Stuart McKnight – Managing Director, +44 (0)20 7993 8700, smcknight@ascendant.co.uk

ABOUT ALTAIR MEDICAL

Based in the UK, Altair Medical was established in early 2018 by Dr Bruce Henderson, a specialist physician and founder of COMS, a successful healthcare services company, and by Jonathan Guthrie, a chartered accountant and entrepreneur who founded technology and outsource CRM businesses Paywizard and MGt.

With a mission to reduce the global burden from respiratory illness, Altair Medical’s technology has been developed by an international team of specialists with experience of hardware and software development, data analysis and artificial intelligence.  Performance characteristics are not yet fully established and the technology will not be made available commercially until it demonstrates conformity with applicable regulatory requirements.

For more information, see www.altairmedical.com.