Irvine-based upstart medical device maker Telesair Inc. said it has raised $22 million for its hospital-grade respiratory products, including a product in developmemt that can be used at home.
The Series A round of funding will support the commercialization of Telesair’s Bonhawa Respiratory Humidifier, which the company says is a “unique, differentiated respiratory solution” for use in intensive care units in hospitals. Funds will also go toward the development of a second-generation product designed to get patients out of the hospital sooner, by treating them safely at home.
The company says respiratory diseases are “dramatically increasing” and there is a need for simple-to-use medical respirators.
“There’s a huge gap between hospital-level therapy and home-level therapy,” co-founder and Chief Executive Bryan Liu told the Business Journal.
“A lot of patients need to be kept in hospitals where there are high costs. Patients are having a difficult time getting a high level of care in their homes.”
Pasaca Backing
The Series A financing round was led by Pasaca Capital, a Pasadena-based venture capital firm that in 2020 founded Innova Medical Group, which would soon become one of the largest COVID-19 test kit providers in the world.
Pasaca is also an investor in Rancho Santa Margarita’s Sweegen, a maker of healthy sweeteners for drinks and food.
“Telesair Inc.’s innovative products, strong team and execution capability fit perfectly to our investment philosophy,” said Charles Huang, founder and chairman of Pasaca Capital.
Other existing and new investors include Honeywell Ventures, ZhenCheng Capital, Shangbay Capital, Device of Tomorrow Capital, Berkeley Catalyst Fund and Ultrastar Ventures LLC.
“We are impressed with their mission and technology roadmap, and we are excited to collaborate with them in critical areas such as advanced sensing and remote patient monitoring, enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning,” said Patrick Hogan, managing director of Honeywell Ventures, the venture arm of Honeywell that invests in early-stage, high-growth companies that have emerging and disruptive technologies.
R&D Background
Liu, who received his Ph.D. degrees from Tianjin University in Management Science and Ohio University in Engineering, has worked at a variety of medical device companies, including as research and development manager for respiratory care at CareFusion, the largest respiratory device manufacturer in the U.S., and senior principal system engineer for dialysis systems at Fresenius Medical Care North America.
The other co-founders of Telesair are Chief Technology Officer Tyler Li, who has worked in critical care ventilators for Philips Respironics, and Quality Assurance Director Don Lin, who was chief scientist at Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics Co., the largest medical company in China.
Telesair, which was founded in 2020 and is based in the Irvine Spectrum, now has 20 employees with plans to hire another 20 this year, Liu said.
The company says it has been in “stealth mode” to develop “hospital-level respiratory care in the home.”
Last summer, it announced that it had closed a license agreement with a “leading global medical device manufacturer” to develop a new respiratory platform for use initially only outside the U.S.
The partner’s name hasn’t been disclosed.
The company said as part of the July 2022 deal, it would earn “a multimillion-dollar upfront payment, a multimillion-dollar milestone upon completion of its offering, and ongoing royalty payments based on sales of the device.”
Liu said at the time that “we have one of the best R&D teams in the space, and with our technological innovations, we will continue to develop our own pipeline of proprietary solutions to address a wide array of diseases” in the respiratory market.
Liu said a company goal is to make its system a hub for healthcare in the home.
Respirator Need
Telesair’s website notes that 545 million people suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which is the third leading cause of death worldwide. It said a person can become brain dead without access to oxygen for three minutes.
“It is our mission to increase accessibility for all people who need oxygen assistance to the extent of our ability,” Telesair said on its website. “While medical respirators are not the cure for these diseases, they are paramount to treatment and allow affected individuals to experience a better life.”
The company is one of several in Orange County focused on respiratory devices; others include Vyair Inc., which has operations in Irvine, and eVent Medical in Lake Forest.
