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PhotoniCare Secures Series Seed Funding

PhotoniCare, a medical device company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, announced today that it has secured Series Seed funding. The round was led by investments from Julz and Almond Tree Capital. Other investors in the round include VisionTech Partners, Innovation In Motion, and F&S Capital.

PhotoniCare is developing a handheld, low-cost imaging platform that uses light to see through human tissues. PhotoniCare’s lead product, the ClearView™ otoscope [OtoSight Middle Ear Scope], enables front-line clinicians to see through the eardrum for the first time.  Doctors can now visualize the contents of the middle ear. Once introduced, ClearView [OtoSight Middle Ear Scope] is intended to change the way physicians manage middle ear infections, one of the most common diseases in the world.

The investment will be used to pursue FDA clearance for PhotoniCare’s first product, grow capability in operations, expand clinical studies, and further develop PhotoniCare’s product portfolio.

Dr. Zishan Haroon from Julz and Dr. Christian Renaudin from Almond Tree Capital will join PhotoniCare’s Board of Directors.

Zishan Haroon, Chairman and General Partner of Julz Co., said:  We are impressed with PhotoniCare’s innovation in an area where there has been no significant improvement in quite some time.  The company has demonstrated its ability to sketch out a product that can bring the current otoscope to digital standards while adding a new layer of imaging abilities for rapid diagnosis in the ENT space.  We are delighted to invest in PhotoniCare’s future growth.

Christian Renaudin, Managing Director of Almond Tree Capital, said: “We believe that PhotoniCare’s ClearView [OtoSight Middle Ear Scope] will become a new standard in primary care and ENT practices, opening a new field for ear infection work-up management, enhancing quality outcomes for patients while saving the overall healthcare system from wasteful and unnecessary treatments, and potentially eliminating the abuse of antibiotic prescriptions and accompanying risk of antibiotic resistance. PhotoniCare is poised for tremendous growth thanks to its passionate team focused on execution.”

Ryan Shelton, PhotoniCare CEO and co-founder, said: “PhotoniCare is fortunate to bring in some excellent partners in this round, with significant expertise in the medical device space and a vision that aligns well with the long-term mission of the company. 2018 is going to be a very busy and exciting year for PhotoniCare.”

About PhotoniCare
PhotoniCare is a medical device company developing a handheld, low-cost imaging platform for the front lines of medicine. The ClearView [OtoSight Middle Ear Scope], the first product on the platform, will fundamentally change the way physicians manage middle ear infections, one of the most common diseases in the world. Founded out of Dr. Stephen Boppart’s Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), PhotoniCare continues its relationship with UIUC as an EnterpriseWorks incubator company. For more information about PhotoniCare visit, www.photoni.care or connect with PhotoniCare on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

About Julz Co
Julz Co is a venture capital firm focused on investments in the healthcare industry with an emphasis on therapeutics, medical devices, digital healthcare, and services. Julz invests globally in companies that have novel and proprietary technology addressing a vital market need and are driven by experienced management teams. The company has offices in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA and Suzhou, China. Full details can be found at: www.julzco.com.

About Almond Tree Capital
Almond Tree Capital is an early-stage medtech investment fund focusing on start-up acceleration. With deep passion and knowledge from the financial, marketing, legal, and technical world, its two founders joined forces and developed a novel playbook for medical device and technology investing. The company has offices in Davis, CA.