Tasso Raises $6.1M to Bring Effortless Blood Collection into the Home
SEATTLE, WA – Tasso, Inc. has completed a $6.1 million financing round led by Vertical Venture Partners (“VVP”), with participation from Techstars and Cedars-Sinai. This funding will help Tasso scale its first product Tasso OnDemand, which enables self-collection of blood samples, and grow the team to support significant commercial interest.
Tasso OnDemand will transform how patients engage with blood testing, optimizing drug efficacy, safety, and adherence. By enabling frequent data on vital blood markers, researchers will obtain unique insight during drug development and healthcare practitioners will better manage care, selecting the best drug for each patient, minimizing side effects, and ensuring high adherence to treatment. Tasso OnDemand is anticipated to be available for purchase in Q2 2019.
“We are excited to work with VVP on furthering our mission of patient-centric blood collection,” said Ben Casavant, co-founder and CEO of Tasso. “With the additional support of Techstars and Cedars-Sinai, we are well positioned to transform clinical blood testing by making it painless and convenient. We also provide additional value beyond the blood draw with accurate and timely results that engage everyone involved.”
“We are excited to back the exceptional team at Tasso. The company is exciting because it has visibility on near-term commercial opportunities with pharmaceutical and lab partners, as well as long-term potential to change the front-end collection for virtually all diagnostics,” said Brad Corona, Partner at VVP. “Blood collection hasn’t changed in decades, and judging from the strong early interest from commercial partners, it’s time.”
This funding builds upon $13.1 million of grant funding received from DARPA, DTRA, and NIH, which enabled Tasso to develop the core technology that powers Tasso’s platform and ensure high-quality high-volume blood draws.
About Tasso Inc.
Tasso’s lead product, Tasso OnDemand allows people to collect blood from the comfort and privacy of their home and mail the samples back to the lab for analysis. Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Tasso is privately held and funded by grants from DARPA, DTRA and the NIH, by investments from Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars Sinai, and by co-development deals with various industry leaders. For more information please visit tassoinc.com and follow @tassoinc
About Vertical Venture Partners
Vertical Venture Partners (“VVP”) is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm founded in 2015 by Dave Schwab, a 20-year veteran in early stage technology investing. VVP focuses on making Seed and Series A investments in B2B technology companies targeting pain points in specific vertical sectors. The VVP team has decades of operating and investment experience gained from diverse backgrounds in venture capital, research & development, investment banking and advanced technology. Please visit www.vvp.vc to learn more.