Limerick life sciences player Teckro raises $10m in Series B round

31 Aug 2017

Image: anyaivanova/Shutterstock

Teckro raises funds for its breakthrough machine learning technology to increase the speed and accuracy of clinical trials.

Limerick-based life sciences tech firm Teckro has raised $10m in a Series B round, bringing the amount of funding raised to date to $17.8m.

Last year, the company raised $6m in a Series A round led by Founders Fund.

The latest round was led by Sands Capital Ventures with participation from Bill Maris’ Section 32 venture fund, Founders Fund and private investors.

‘The Teckro platform simplifies digital trials, enabling more and more physicians to become clinical researchers, and that could lead to great news for patients’
– BILL MARIS

Teckro’s digital platform is already driving increased speed and accuracy of clinical trials at thousands of research sites in more than 30 countries.

“Teckro’s plans are ambitious and they come with a real passion for improving clinical research,” said Gary Hughes, CEO of Teckro.

“This investment reflects that ambition as we expand operations and customer footprint globally, continue to invest in our product platform, and drive success for our customers at the top 10 pharmaceutical and biotech companies.”

Clinical speed and accuracy

Teckro uses information retrieval and machine learning technologies to improve the speed and accuracy of clinical trial conduct, helping to turn research and development into successful drugs and treatment for complex diseases.

The Teckro digital platform is deployed across multiple phases of clinical trials, including critical Phase III studies.

Teckro was co-founded by Gary Hughes, Jacek Skrzypiec and Nigel Hughes, a trio of entrepreneurs with demonstrated success and sizeable exits.

They previously co-founded Firecrest Clinical, which was acquired by global clinical research organisation Icon plc in 2011.

The company is chaired by Peter Gray, chair of UDG Healthcare plc, board member of Jazz Pharmaceuticals and former CEO of Icon.

Teckro is currently recruiting for its Limerick operations and its offices at Dogpatch Labs in Dublin.

“Teckro is delivering on its vision to transform clinical trials for the benefit of all stakeholders – sponsors, clinicians and patients – which is what makes this investment opportunity so compelling,” said Michael Rubin, managing partner of Sands Capital Ventures.

Maris – founder and former CEO of Google Ventures, and creator of Google’s Calico project, a multibillion-dollar company focused on the genetic basis of ageing – added: “The Teckro platform simplifies digital trials, enabling more and more physicians to become clinical researchers, and that could lead to great news for patients.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com