Irish medtech Fire1 pumped with $25m for heart monitoring tech

15 Mar 2023

Fire1 team. Image: Conor McCabe Photography

The oversubscribed funding round comes a month after Fire1 implanted its sensor device in the first heart failure patient in the UK.

Dublin-based medtech Fire1 has raised $25m to increase the pace of development of its heart monitoring device.

Based in DCU Alpha, Fire1 has developed an implantable sensor that can help clinicians to remotely monitor patients suffering from heart congestion and failure.

While still pending approval for clinical use, the Fire1 device – which is the size of a pen lid – is currently undergoing clinical trials to test the safety and effectiveness of the technology. Last month, a heart failure patient in the UK became the first person to be implanted with the sensor.

The company raised €40m in a Series C round in 2018 to develop this sensor, having previously raised $7.5m in a Series B round in 2016. The latest round was led by Andrea Partners and Novo Holdings. US-based medical device company Medtronic has also reportedly backed Fire1.

According to Eric Snyder, a partner at Novo Holdings, heart failure affects more than 60m patients worldwide and is the leading cause of hospitalisation in patients aged over 65.

“Hemodynamic monitoring [the study of how blood flows through the cardiovascular system] in heart failure has tremendous potential to improve care for patients and reduce the need for hospitalisations,” Snyder said.

“We believe Fire1 is uniquely positioned to unlock this market and we are excited to support the company in its mission to transform heart failure care.”

Conor Hanley, who is the president and CEO of Fire1, said that the latest oversubscribed funding round is “a testament to the size of the opportunity in front of us”.

“This capital will help us to achieve our mission of helping millions of heart failure patients around the world regain their normal lives,” he said.

Following the round, Snyder will join the Fire1 board of directors along with Aneta Sottil, director of Andera Life Sciences.

Fire1 received the Emerging Medtech award by the Irish Medtech Association in December. “Fire1 is an exemplar of what can be achieved in Ireland by highly innovative companies,” Enterprise Ireland head of life sciences Garrett Murray said at the time.

The start-up has previously won an award for best use of robotic process automation and cognitive AI at the annual AI Awards in November 2021.

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Vish Gain was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com