• By
• Timothy Hay
• CONNECT

The Tablo dialysis system

Outset Medical

The hundreds of thousands of patients in the U.S. who get kidney dialysis face multiple appointments at the clinic each week, where they hook up to big, bulky machines for hours at a time.

The technology involved, which essentially does the work for kidneys that are malfunctioning, hasn’t been significantly upgraded in decades.

One startup medical-technology company, San Jose, Calif.-based Outset Medical Inc., aims to make the experience easier on patients, and eventually turn dialysis into something that can be done in the home.

The company is making a small, lightweight system that can do the same work that today is done by machines that take up most of a room, Chief Executive Leslie Trigg said.

Outset Medical is in the midst of raising a large Series B round to get its system into dialysis clinics, and begin the process of moving the technology into patients’ homes, Ms. Trigg said.

The company has thus far closed on $45 million in new equity investment plus $15 million from converted warrants in a Series B round that is expected to grow significantly larger in the near future, she said.

The funding was provided by return investors Warburg Pincus and Vertical Group, as well as new public-equity investors whose names the company isn’t disclosing. The second phase of funding, which is expected to close soon, will also involve new and returning investors, Ms. Trigg said.

Among Outset Medical’s innovation is the miniaturization of the water-filtration component, a breakthrough that could lead to the first consumer version of dialysis with a device small enough to be kept in the home.

Read the full article about Outset Medical’s funding, including more about the company’s technology, at Dow Jones VentureWire.

Write to Timothy Hay at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Follow him on Twitter at @timwhay

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