Digital health solutions company Epicore Biosystems announced that it has closed an oversubscribed $10M Series A investment round. The new investment onboards Chevron Technology Ventures, Alumni Ventures and seed investor Joyance Partners, joining Epicore’s longstanding list of strategic backers and customers, including PepsiCo, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, National Institutes of Health, and NextFlex.
This investment is fueled by growing interest in Epicore’s wearable microfluidic products and analytic solutions, which have been deployed by leading Fortune 50 companies as demand for personalized hydration and metabolic monitoring intensifies.
Originally spun out of Northwestern University’s Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics, Epicore has developed a proprietary wearable “skin-like” microfluidic patch designed to capture eccrine sweat and offer real-time insights through its biochemical-sensing platform. Epicore’s products provide a wealth of personalized data, from hydration and stress to glucose levels, for a range of applications including sports performance, industrial safety, battlefield hydration and health management.
“We have been closely collaborating with our customers and clinical partners to capture health insights that go beyond the traditional biometrics – like steps and heart rate and heart rate variability – by tapping into a rich, new source of data gleaned from tiny droplets of sweat,” says Dr. Roozbeh Ghaffari CEO and co-founder of Epicore Biosystems. “Onboarding this established group of investors and partners will help propel our efforts to revolutionize personalized recovery and metabolic health management.”
PepsiCo Gx Sweat Patch, Chevron hydration monitoring trial
In March 2021, Epicore launched its first commercial sports hydration product with PepsiCo and Gatorade, the Gx Sweat Patch, a first-to-market wearable that pairs with the Gx app to provide personalized, real-time hydration recommendations for athletes to help drive performance.
Epicore also conducted a trial in May 2021 with Chevron Technology Ventures to deploy wireless sweat patches to monitor hydration of workers facing increased risk of heat stress.