Testmate Health raises $6 Million
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Testmate Health announced the successful closing of their $6 Million funding round led by RH Capital to continue their development of the first at-home rapid test for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
The round was led by women’s health fund RH Capital, with participation from Tia and Oova backer The Helm, Dame and Playground backer Amboy Street Ventures, Lichtsteiner Foundation, Zürcher Kantonal Bank and Dartlabs.io. The capital is slated for product development, clinical trials and market validation for Testmate’s first-of-its-kind, low-cost, over-the-counter at-home diagnostic urine test for STIs, starting with chlamydia and gonorrhoea. The company doesn’t anticipate regulatory approvals until next year.
In a statement, Elizabeth Bailey, managing director at RH Capital, says, “Testmate Health’s innovative approach to at-home STI testing addresses a critical need in the healthcare space. We are excited to partner with the company and its mission to improve access to essential diagnostics while ensuring the highest standards of accuracy and privacy.”
Other sexual health and wellness brands like Dame, Daye and Evvy offer at-home STI tests, but test takers have to mail self-collected specimens to receive results, a process that can take days. With Testmate’s urine STI tests, test takers can expect to receive reliable results at home in under 30 minutes. Testmate’s tests are slated to be available OTC without a prescription.
Testmate founder and CEO Siew-Veena Sahi, who’s a physician, studied sexual health diagnostics at the World Health Organization and worked at the United Kingdom’s National Health Service. Her study of sexual and reproductive health showed the dearth of cheap and accurate tests for STIs like chlamydia or gonorrhoea, which sparked her to develop Testmate’s urine-based DNA platform detection technology. She launched Testmate in 2021.