Delee Corp
Blood-testing device for early diagnosis of cancer and treatment monitoring.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | investor investor | €0.0 | round |
| investor | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
N/A | Seed | ||
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
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Delee Corp. operates as a medical device company focused on oncology. The company was founded in 2017 by Liza Velarde (CEO), Alejandro Abarca (CTO), and Juan Felipe Yee (CMO), who possess a collective scientific background with over a decade of experience in developing scientific instrumentation. The founders' journey began with the goal of understanding cancer metastasis, which led them to develop the necessary technology from the ground up to analyze circulating tumor cells (CTCs). The company has received backing from prominent accelerators like Y Combinator and StartX.
Delee has engineered the CytoCatch™ system, a platform designed for the isolation and analysis of CTCs from blood samples. This technology consists of two main components: a processing unit that isolates CTCs using a size-based filtration method with a microfabricated nickel membrane, and an imaging system that employs machine learning algorithms to count and analyze the captured cells. This approach avoids reliance on antigen-antibody interactions, a limitation of other systems that can lead to cell loss. The process keeps the isolated cells viable for subsequent molecular and genetic analysis, including next-generation sequencing.
The company's business model targets two distinct market segments. Initially, the CytoCatch™ system is commercialized as a research-use-only tool for pharmaceutical companies and research centers, including institutions like the Stanford University Medical Center. This strategy generates pre-FDA clearance revenue through the sale of the device and recurring revenue from necessary consumables and reagents. Upon receiving FDA clearance, Delee plans to market the technology as an in vitro diagnostic medical device to hospitals and laboratories. The company is initially validating its technology for prostate and breast cancer, with plans to expand to lung and colorectal cancer. Delee has raised over $2.4 million and has secured pre-orders valued at over $2.5 million.
Keywords: circulating tumor cells, CTC isolation, liquid biopsy, cancer diagnostics, medical device, oncology, cancer treatment monitoring, Y Combinator, StartX, Liza Velarde, CytoCatch, size-based filtration, in vitro diagnostic, molecular analysis, research use only, cancer biomarker, metastasis research, non-invasive diagnostics, personalized medicine, cancer detection