Indigo Diabetes concludes a €38 million round of financing

Indigo Diabetes, a young high-tech medical device company that develops medical solutions using nanophotonics, announced the conclusion of a €38 million Series B funding round to further develop its promising Multi-Biomarker Sensor for people with diabetes. The funding round was led by Fund+, with the participation of Ackermans & van Haaren, imec.xpand, Capricorn Digital Growth Fund, QBICII, Titan Baratto and the Series A investors.

The new investment round will enable Indigo Diabetes to prepare and start up the clinical study phase. The small sensor chip is designed to be inserted underneath the skin and continuously measure  glucose and ketones in people with diabetes. The latter is a worldwide first and aims at enabling the faster detection of life-threatening situations by both the users and their healthcare providers. At the same time, the invisible sensor strives to afford patients a substantially improved quality of life.

“It is our ambition to give people with diabetes control over their own lives again. By using nanophotonics – a spectrometer in miniature form – our sensor will allow to measure glucose and other biomarkers or metabolites such as ketones accurately and continuously. Unlike the Continuous Glucose Monitoring systems (CGMs) on the market, our sensor will be invisible. The sensor will sit underneath and not on the skin. Diabetes therefore will no longer need to be visible,” says CEO Danaë Delbeke.

The funding will also drive further expansion of the company, which now has twenty five employees. With the Series A round, Indigo Diabetes has raised over more than €45 million since 2016.

“We have been impressed by Indigo’s world class team and innovative approach. They have applied ground-breaking photonics technologies at miniature scale to develop an innovative product for people with diabetes around the world. This product has the potential to provide easier, continuous monitoring and provide a better quality of life to millions of people,” says Jan Van den Bossche, Partner at Fund+.

“We are delighted to be part of the further growth and development of Indigo Diabetes as a long-term investor. The company boasts an excellent management team that has grown from a unique ecosystem that combines UGent’s photonics expertise with imec’s nanoelectronics expertise. We are convinced that Indigo’s sensor can make a substantial difference for people with diabetes and see a broader application potential for this mini-spectrometer in the long run,” says An Herremans, Investment Manager at Ackermans & van Haaren.

The company received strong support from the investors of the Series A capital round, led by Thuja Capital Healthcare Fund II, PMV and  Sensinnovat, with the participation of Powergraph, Qbic Arkiv Fund, Fidimec, Manuardeo and Capricorn ICT Arkiv, as they all reinvested in the Series B capital round.

“Clinical evidence has proven that CGMs are effective tools for people with diabetes to improve glycemic control. We strongly believe Indigo’s invisible sensor is the next stage. Not only will it allow better monitoring and treatment of diabetes, but the psychological impact of continuously painful finger-pricking or having to live daily with visible sensors will be a thing of the past thanks to this Indigo sensor,” says Dr Harrold van Barlingen of Thuja Capital.