One in 36 children in the United States has autism, according to the CDC. Research shows that the earlier a child is diagnosed, the better their developmental outcomes will be. EarliTec Diagnostics has raised new capital to expand its system that helps clinicians diagnose children as young as 16 months.
The Atlanta-based startup’s FDA-cleared approach involves a child watching short videos and social interactions on a screen for 12 minutes while the device, using AI, tracks the child’s eye movements. child. According to EarliTec, autistic children will not focus on video in the same way as non-autistic children.
The startup raised a $21.5 million Series B round co-led by Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on supporting companies creating solutions for brain disorders, and Venture Investors, a fund Midwest venture capitalist that invests in health care companies. The startup’s technology is currently used by eight clinicians across six states in the United States.
Tom Ressemann, CEO of EarliTec Diagnostics, told TechCrunch that traditional autism diagnoses involve three- or four-hour evaluations that can lead to long waitlists. EarliTec’s 12-minute test is designed to help clinicians reach a diagnosis more quickly, which helps them work with more children.
“You have to be able to work with their current workflow,” Ressemann said. “So with a test like ours that is flexible as to where you access it, it could be in the child’s home, it could be in a clinic or a school, it’s a tablet, we can work on most workflows. A quicker diagnosis is better for the child and the parent.
The company plans to use the money to continue expanding its marketing, Ressemann said. EarliTec currently works with children ages 16 to 30 months and plans to dedicate some of its new capital to research that could help the company expand the age range the system can diagnose. He also hopes the capital can help improve assessment and treatment options.
Ressemann, who was CEO of several other medical device startups before EarliTec, including Amphora Medical and Entellus Medical, said this fundraising was the most challenging and yet the most rewarding. He said that despite the prevalence of autism in the United States, it is still a difficult area to raise money because only certain investors are interested in this area. But that is starting to change.
The reason this deal intrigued me so much is that there appears to be growing momentum and interest from venture capital firms in the autism-focused healthcare sector; before 2021, it was rarer.
The Autism Impact Fund closed a $60 million fund this week, 20% above its $50 million goal. The Autism Impact Fund isn’t the only company investing in this area, either. Divergent Ventures raised a $10 million fund in 2021 that focuses on early-stage companies in the neurodiversity space. Nexus NeuroTech Ventures, backer of EarliTec, just launched in 2023.
Several startups in the sector have also launched notable series. Cortica, which makes diagnostics and treatment plans, has raised more than $175 million in venture capital from companies including CVS Health Ventures and .406 Ventures. Forta, a family-centered autism therapy, has raised more than $55 million from backers including Insight Partners and Alumni Fund. Opya, a digital therapy platform for autism, has raised more than $19 million from backers including SoftBank’s Open Opportunity Fund.
Ressemann said the scope of diagnostic and assessment tools and treatments has changed rapidly since he and his wife went through the diagnosis and treatment process years ago with their now 27-year-old son. years.
While it’s great to see startups and companies backing treatments and tools to support children with autism, it’s still a question of why investors are interested in backing solutions now – or why they weren’t before . I asked Ressemann what he thought, and he said that awareness of the prevalence of this disease has made a big difference.
“Only a few years ago it was considered to affect one in 1,000 children, today it is one in 36 children,” Ressemann said. “It’s awareness.”
This makes a lot of sense. My mind had always considered that the goal of awareness campaigns was for more unaffected people to understand its prevalence, but I had not considered that more information available would also help lead to more diagnoses, giving a more accurate picture of the number of cases. the people it actually affects. Having these numbers on hand helps investors visualize the entire addressable market and opportunity.
“There is an attraction to the size and scale of the problem,” Ressemann said of recent venture capital interest. “When there is a large unmet need, there is often an interest in focusing on it. »
Hopefully investors will remain interested, because investing more money in startups like this, which can help children with developmental delays and disorders, and which can make money for venture capital firms, seems like a great strategy for generating a return while directly improving people’s lives.
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