Wauwatosa-based TAI Diagnostics Inc. has raised more than expected in its Series A extension funding round. The company filed notice with the SEC recently that it surpassed its $10 million goal, raising $12.8 million.
TAI, which in January had raised the $10 million, upped its total offering amount to $13 million. The $12.8 million in equity and options investments so far has come from 34 investors.
Frank Langley, chief executive officer, said the additional funds have come from investors who are excited about TAI’s product, which is a diagnostic test for heart transplant patients that measures potential organ rejection via blood test, avoiding the need for a more invasive endomyocardial biopsy.
“We have other clinical trials going in other organs, which has significant progress,” Langley said, including lung and kidney tests. “As a business, we’re just making tremendous progress and people want to get in.”
The biotechnology startup, founded in 2015, is a Medical College of Wisconsin spinoff based in a two-suite space in the Milwaukee County Research Park.
TAI still plans to use the proceeds of the round to continue its product development efforts via clinical trials, and to hire more employees. Langley declined to disclose employee numbers.
To date, TAI has raised more than $24 million in outside funding for its test. It has completed phase 1 of its heart clinical trials and is well into phase 2. In May, TAI launched its test, myTAI Heart, and it is now available to hospitals for regular use for the first time. Langley declined to disclose which hospitals are using the test, but said the results have been promising.
“Our test really is a platform test that we can adapt to any other solid organ transplant. In essence, it’s just a natural solution,” he said. “It’s an ongoing process. You always keep improving the product you have and then we’re developing products for other organs.”
Langley said TAI does not currently have any plans for an exit.
