Seed Round Funding Is Only the Beginning But
Congratulation Are Still In Order For
Jason Kang ‘16ENG, Katherine Jin ‘16CC, and Kevin Tyan ‘16CC
NEW YORK, February 27, 2017 — Kinnos Inc., a start-up healthcare company that develops technologies to prevent surface-transmitted infections, announced today the closing of $1 million in seed round funding. The seed financing was led by Georgica Advisors, with participation from New York Angels, VentureWell, and other strategic angel investors.
“Our team is thrilled to be bringing on such a high caliber of investors,” said Jason Kang, CEO of Kinnos. “We have already seen a tremendous amount of value added and we look forward to executing our vision for Kinnos together.”
Kinnos will use the new financing to drive continued product development and sales. Since its founding in December 2014, the company has taken advantage of grants and competition prizes to fund the research and development of its flagship product, Highlight®, a patent-pending additive for disinfectants that greatly improves visibility, coverage, and end-user compliance. The new funds will be utilized to build out the Highlight® product platform and allow it to be implemented in multiple healthcare settings.
“Although we first started working on Highlight® in response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, it has become increasingly clear that infection prevention is a top priority for medical organizations around the world,” said Mr. Kang.
From Ebola in West Africa to C. difficile in hospitals, infectious diseases impact tens of thousands of lives every year. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of every 25 patients will contract a healthcare-associated infection (HAI), leading to 75,000 deaths and over $28 billion dollars lost in the U.S. healthcare system annually. The problem is that disinfectants such as bleach are transparent, making it difficult to see where they have been applied. They bead up and roll off waterproof surfaces, leaving gaps in coverage, and they provide no indication when a pathogen has been killed. Such human error and a lack of compliance means that surfaces are often not fully decontaminated, leading to infection.
Highlight® directly addresses these issues by colorizing the disinfectant, creating a film and adhering to waterproof surfaces, and fading in color to provide visual feedback of when decontamination is complete. Highlight® empowers healthcare workers, patients, and the general public to be confident in their safety by enforcing real-time quality control and real-time compliance. Studies have reported that improving compliance with disinfection can reduce HAIs by more than 80%.
“We believe that Highlight® provides a simple solution, one that focuses on proper decontamination techniques and does not require behavioral changes,” said Rick Reiss, Chairman and Founder of Georgica Advisors. “It has the potential to be a game changer for disease and infection control in the field for NGOs, in hospitals, and eventually in the commercial marketplace.” [Rest of Story]
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