Truvian Health: The Blood-Testing Company
Interviewing Co-Founder Dena Marrinucci to discuss the future of blood testing, building in a billion-dollar industry and navigating the Theranos effect.
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Founders,
Today I’d like to introduce you to Truvian Health, a blood-testing startup headquartered in San Diego.
It is one of the most promising biotech startups in San Diego. The company is developing an innovative blood-testing instrument.
What started as a 7-person startup with $2.5 million in the bank eight years ago, has matured into a fast growing organization that has raised more than $150 million in venture funding to transform the blood-testing industry.
Please enjoy this breakdown of Truvian.
High-Level Overview
Truvian Health is a blood diagnostics company, is revolutionizing how blood is collected and analyzed
What makes it special? Truvian developed an automated instrument that can perform routine blood testing at the point of care.
Most notably, the company is preparing for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) submission for its blood testing technology.
Founded in 2015, the company aims to make testing more accessible, affordable and efficient for consumers, major retailers and clinics across the globe.
Founding Story
A biotech investor in San Diego, was an early believer that the life sciences industry needed a more affordable blood-testing product, specifically for the retail sector.
In 2015, two well-known technology executives, Mark Bowles and Pieter van Rooyen, teamed up with Dena Marrinucci, a life science executive to bring this idea to life.
In particular they wanted to create a product that could accurately identify dangerous health risks, at a fraction of the cost and time.
What started out as an idea, morphed into a venture-backed startup that raised over $150 million in venture capital funding, and employs over 100 staffers.
Domain Associates provided several million dollars in startup capital in 2015. Kim Kamdar, a partner at Domain and well-known biotech investor, served as the founding CEO and owns an equity stake in the blood-testing company.
The Product
The company seeks to deliver up to 40 standard health and wellness routine blood results “in minutes,” instead of days or weeks.
It is developing a blood-testing device that can perform diagnostics in as little as 20 minutes using a tiny sample of blood.
The most common routine blood tests include: complete blood cell count, kidney and liver function, cholesterol and glucose levels, thyroid stimulating hormone.
Users will also have access to their results on their smartphone.
Market Opportunity
The global market for blood diagnostics tops $70 billion annually.
Truvian is betting that a significant amount of consumers want direct access to health information faster and will want to control their health.
It plans to target retail health clinics, medical offices, pharmacies and corporations that focus on routine primary care for patients.
Potential customers: Walmart, CVS, One Medical, Crossover Health, and others.
In terms of competition, no company has created a similar product that combines immunoassays, blood chemistries and hematology in this way, according to the firm.
“Today, most blood samples are processed at centralized labs such as Quest Diagnostics or LabCorp. using large, expensive machines. We’re targeting retail clinics as well as outpatient primary care and corporate clinics,” said Marrinucci.
The “Theranos” Effect
Truvian strives to be as transparent as possible about its technology.
The startup is building in a heavily scrutinized space, largely due to San Francisco-based Theranos, who wrongly deceived investors on false promises.
The team anticipates being asked tough questions by prospective investors, who request internal data to validate the company’s claims.
To overcome this, Truvian sets a high bar and regularly invites customers and investors to look “under the hood,” and see the blood-testing machine.
“Most investors bring up Theranos within the first 15 minutes of conversation. said Marrinucci. “Everyone has heard of Theranos, and everyone knows they didn’t get a lot of things right. But what they did show was that there was a need and demand for this type of technology.”
Investors
Truvian has raised more than $150 million since its inception.
Investment rounds raised so far:
$2.5 million Seed round by Domain Associates
$17 million Series A led by GreatPoint Ventures
$27.1 million Series B round led by GreatPoint Ventures, Tao Capital Partners, DNS Capital and Domain Associates.
$105 million Series C round led by TYH Ventures, 7wireVentures and Wittington Ventures.
“We spent more than six months performing due diligence with experts from the University of Chicago and the University of Toronto to ensure Truvian’s science is sound,” said Ashok Krishnamurthi, managing director at GreatPoint Ventures, who led Truvian’s Series A and B rounds.
Leadership Team
Jay Srinivasan, is the president and chief executive officer and Dena Marrinucci, is the chief operating officer at Truvian.
Mr. Srinivasan has spent two decades leading large healthcare companies including Abbott Laboratories and GenMark Diagnostics.
Marrinucci helped launch Epic Sciences, an early-stage life science startup that raised more than $200 million in venture capital funding.
Jeff Hawkins, served as the former chief executive officer as employee no. 12, before stepping down in September 2022 to pursue a new venture called Quantum-Si.
Looking Ahead
Truvian is playing the long game.
It plans to obtain FDA approval soon to commercialize its blood-testing technology throughout the United States and Europe.
The blood-testing startup has proven it can meet accuracy and precision targets, however it still has to prove that it can work on a national scale.
Overall, this will be a fascinating company to watch going forward.
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Fred - I really enjoy the way you capture San Diego's best stories.
Great article