S.D. STARTUP FARO HEALTH RAISES $20M FOR CLINICAL TRIAL SOFTWARE
Company automates processes around how protocols, data collection handled
San Diego’s Faro Health, a cloud-computing startup that provides software for planning and running complex clinical trials in the life sciences industry, has raised $20 million in a second round of venture capital funding.
Founded in 2019, the company automates processes around how protocols and data collection are handled in clinical trials. Co-founder and Chief Executive Scott Chetham contends current methods have not kept pace with the increased complexity of trials in the bio-pharmaceutical industry, which is increasingly developing intricate treatments in fields like rare diseases or immuno-oncology.
Before starting Faro, Chetham worked at Verily — the life sciences division of Google parent Alphabet. The company previously raised $18.3 million in a seed and Series A round in mid-2022.
“The technology used to design clinical trial protocols has not adapted to support the complexity of protocol design required by the current innovations in life sciences,” said Chetham in a statement. “The Faro platform helps teams understand and mitigate the risks involved in modern protocols with enormous savings in direct costs and time.”
This latest funding was led by General Catalyst with participation from existing investors Section 32, Polaris Partners, Zetta Ventures, and Northpond Ventures. General Catalyst Partner Elena Viboch will join Faro’s board of directors.
“Faro has developed software that allows rapid evaluation of clinical study costs, accessibility to patients and ease of study conduct,” said Viboch in a statement. “By helping study teams answer complex questions, Faro’s solution aims to improve lives by bringing more efficiency to clinical trials.”
The company said it has seen rapid growth in its customer and partnership base recently. It will use the funding to support continued expansion.