SOMERVILLE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Teal Bio, Inc., a medical device startup revolutionizing respiratory protection, today announced it has raised a $2.45 million Series A financing led by Caligan Partners LP. The funding will allow the company to complete the development and regulatory approval of its innovative, reusable respiratory protection platform, which offers significant improvements in comfort, communication and conservation in personal protective equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers.
“The need for PPE is not going away and we need better, more environmentally friendly solutions for healthcare workers,” said Tony Casciano, CEO of Teal Bio. “Even though disposable N95 masks have been incredibly helpful during the pandemic to protect healthcare workers, they have significant limitations. They are notoriously uncomfortable, contribute to the millions of tons of plastic medical waste in our environment every year and can significantly degrade essential communication while caring for patients. Our reusable respirator system is being designed to give healthcare workers respiratory protection that is comfortable, cost-effective, sustainable and less obtrusive.”
Teal Bio’s lead product, expected in 2022, is a reusable, patent-pending respirator platform that is safe, cost-efficient, transparent and creates significantly less waste than traditional single-use masks, including N95s. The body, which is made of transparent medical-grade silicone, can be sanitized with simple alcohol wipes and reused. The replaceable filters—which are made of a substantially biodegradable blend that creates less waste and takes up less space than disposable N95 masks—snap in place and are replaced daily. Teal Bio’s Series A financing was led by Caligan Partners LP and included continued participation from seed investor Innocreative Capital.
“The environmental impact of disposable masks, including single-use N95s, which are mainly composed of non-recyclable plastic, is significant. We are proud to be leading the Series A financing for a novel, cost-effective, environmentally friendly approach to improving protection for hospital workers, patients and the environment and have great confidence in Tony and the Teal Bio team to execute on the substantial opportunity,” said Dave Johnson, Managing Partner, Caligan Partners LP.
Teal Bio, Inc. was founded by Dr. Robert Langer, Institute Professor at MIT and the most cited engineer in history; Dr. Giovanni Traverso, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering at MIT, Division of Gastroenterology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Jason Troutner, former CTO of Cast21; Adam Wentworth, Senior Clinical Engineer at Mayo Clinic and Dr. James Byrne, Assistant Professor, Departments of Radiation Oncology and Biomedical Engineering, University of Iowa Health Care. The company is led by newly appointed CEO Tony Casciano, long-time Sanofi Genzyme Commercial Leader and former COO of AMAG pharma.
ABOUT TEAL BIO
Teal Bio is a Massachusetts-based developer of innovative, reusable respiratory personal protective equipment. Their patent-pending reusable mask and filter platform reduces waste, improves communication and is more comfortable than existing N95 solutions. Teal Bio, Inc. is based in Somerville, MA and operates out of Greentown Labs, the largest climatetech incubator in North America. For more information, please visit www.teal-bio.com.
