[Corrected 4/23/19, 4:17 pm CT. See below.] Imbed Biosciences, a developer of ultra-thin, silver-based wound dressing materials, will step up its sales and marketing efforts with the help of a fresh $2 million venture investment.
The Series A round announced last week was backed by investors including members of Formidable Asset Management and Wisconsin Investment Partners, Imbed CEO and co-founder Ankit Agarwal said in an email message. Madison, WI-based Imbed previously raised about $2.3 million in equity funding, Agarwal said. [An earlier version of this paragraph incorrectly stated that previous Imbed backer WISC Partners invested in this round. We regret the error.]
The cash infusion will support commercialization of Imbed’s MicroLyte Ag Antimicrobial Matrix, an FDA-cleared wound dressing intended to help treat chronic ulcers, burns, and surgical wounds. MicroLyte Ag is the first of what Imbed’s leaders hope will be a series of soft tissue repair products.
The wound dressing is underpinned by nanofilm technology that uses silver’s antimicrobial properties to kill infection-causing pathogens, helping wounds heal in a way that does not require treatment with potentially harmful levels of the metal. On its website, Imbed claims that MicroLyte Ag contains anywhere from 10 to hundreds of times less silver than some of the silver-based antimicrobial dressings commercially available today. Competitors in the global advanced wound dressings market include Argentum Medical, Coloplast, and Smith & Nephew (NYSE: [[ticker:SNN]]).
Agarwal declined to say how much revenue Imbed is generating, but he said the company is selling the wound dressing product to several hospital networks in the US.
Over the past year, thousands of patients have been treated with the wound dressing, Agarwal said. It has demonstrated the ability to kickstart healing in chronic diabetic foot ulcers and venous ulcers that were not responding for months to standard treatments, he said.
The $2 million “will be used to add direct sales people to the team, build out distribution channels, and do marketing,” Agarwal said. The nine-employee company plans to add at least five more people this year in sales, manufacturing, and administration, he added.
