NY-RHINOSTICS
11.3.2021 14:02:11 CET | Business Wire | Press release
In a Series A round, Covid Apollo announces its investment in Rhinostics, an early-stage company that provides a novel solution of enabling comfortable sample collection, rapid accessioning, and automated cap removal that can be linked to high throughput Covid-19 assays to remove wasted time, headcount and costs from laboratory workflows.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210311005325/en/
The Covid Apollo Project brings together expertise and capital to find and help scale the most promising Covid-19 diagnostic opportunities. Originally funded under the leadership of RA Capital Management, the Project includes Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital, Perceptive Advisors, and Bain Capital. “Returning to school and work requires sustainable testing solutions,” said Parker Cassidy, Principal at RA Capital Management and a member of Covid Apollo’s Board of Directors. “Covid Apollo is focused on finding and accelerating the most promising COVID testing solutions to rebuild testing paradigms to address the unique challenges that the pandemic has presented. Rhinostics is a great example of a company bringing new technologies and thinking to a segment of the laboratory workflow that is antiquated and ripe for innovation and acceleration.”
“The investment in Rhinostics is right on mission for Covid Apollo. With our investments, we are aiming to accelerate technologies that can immediately impact COVID testing, which still struggles to meet testing demand, while also providing new tests and diagnostic tools and processes to enable ubiquitous testing in the future, providing not only better pandemic protection and monitoring but also new testing paradigms, that will empower patients and consumers to live safer and healthier lives,” commented Stefan Willemsen, Chief Executive Officer of Covid Apollo. He adds that “the team at Rhinostics has rapidly executed on its strategic plan to bring their products to market, already providing significant volumes of product into COVID testing laboratories. We are excited to support their next phase of growth, commercialization and global impact on the pandemic.”
Rhinostics spun out of Harvard University to commercialize a novel automated nasal collection device invented in partnership by two Harvard faculty, Mike Springer, Associate Professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School; and Richard Novak, Lead Staff Engineer at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering. The novel nasal collection swab has features that can increase sample throughput by more than 10-fold while removing labor and errors from the laboratory workflow. The swab is integrated onto a cap that can be automated for removal from the tube while all 96 samples are simultaneously accessioned through scanning a 2D barcode on the bottom of the tubes. The product, registered as a Class I exempt medical device with the FDA, is currently being testing in several clinical trials, and the company is beginning an Emergency Use Authorization study comparing the RHINOstic™ swab to nasopharyngeal assays with a variety of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays. The product provides an immediate impact for increasing COVID testing efficiencies while being applicable to a broader range of respiratory viral, bacterial, and genetic testing using the PCR and next generation sequencing (NGS).
Cheri Walker, Chief Executive Officer of Rhinostics, commented, “We are thrilled to have Covid Apollo as a partner and investor to join our efforts to positively impact laboratory workflows and make a major impact on COVID testing volumes. Our missions are perfectly aligned to make a difference now. In addition, having Stefan as a board member will be a huge asset, as he is bringing more than 20 years of experience in leadership roles in the IVD industry to our fast-growing company, providing strategic advice and keen business insight. Together, we can change laboratory workflows for COVID and beyond.”
For decades there has been no innovation in viral collection and the process of moving samples into laboratories. The Rhinostics comfortable nasal swab solution brings new materials, better assay performance, dry shipment, instantaneous accessioning, and automated cap removal, all of which together can allow labs to significantly increase their sample throughput with no increase in footprint or staffing. This is changing the way laboratories think about their workflows.
About Covid Apollo Project
Covid Apollo Project aims to enable a safe and sustainable return to work and school by identifying, assembling, developing, and scaling the most promising COVID diagnostic opportunities. Covid Apollo was organized and funded under the leadership of RA Capital Management, a prominent biotechnology-focused investment firm, in collaboration with Redmile Group, Samsara BioCapital, Perceptive Advisors, and Bain Capital, and with legal support from Goodwin Procter. Covid Apollo is a funding founder of the $6M X-Prize competition to develop faster, cheaper and easier to use COVID testing methods at scale.
https://www.xprize.org/prizes/covidtesting
About Rhinostics
Rhinostics is revolutionizing laboratory workflows to link sample to result seamlessly. The company’s products improve sample collection performance while removing costs and time compared to traditional collection and intake. The products bring new materials, new collection types, rapid accessioning and automation to remove caps and move samples into high throughput workflows with little human intervention. The RHINOstic™ nasal swab provides features that increase sample throughput by more than 10-fold while removing labor and errors from the laboratory workflow. The swab is integrated onto a cap that can be automated for removal from the tube while all 96 samples are simultaneously accessioned through scanning a 2D barcode on the bottom of the tubes. The product provides an immediate impact to increasing COVID testing efficiencies while being applicable to broader respiratory viral, bacterial, and genetic testing using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and next generation sequencing (NGS). The RHINOstic™ product is registered as Class I exempt medical device with the FDA and is available for purchase. To learn more, visit https://www.rhinostics.com .
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210311005325/en/
Link:
Social Media:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Andersen Consulting tilføjer samarbejdspartneren Milestone Technologies19.3.2026 19:02:00 CET | Pressemeddelelse
Andersen Consulting fortsætter med at styrke sin platform for digital transformation med tilføjelsen af samarbejdspartneren Milestone Technologies, der er en veletableret global leverandør af it-services og digitale løsninger med base i USA. Milestone Technologies blev grundlagt i 1997 og leverer omfattende teknologi- og outsourcingløsninger, der spænder over digitale arbejdspladstjenester, cloud- og infrastrukturstyring, data, AI og automatisering, apps og digital engineering, business process outsourcing samt implementering af platforme som ServiceNow og Salesforce. Med hovedkontor i Fremont, Californien, opererer Milestone i 35 lande på globalt plan og samarbejder med nogle af verdens største virksomheder. Virksomhedens integrerede leveringsmodel gør det muligt for kunder at transformere deres it-drift, øge serviceeffektiviteten og skalere teknologiske økosystemer gnidningsfrit over hele verden. "Milestone Technologies er en medarbejderfokuseret organisation, der leverer målbare for
Klarna Card reaches 5 million active customers19.3.2026 15:31:00 CET | Press release
Klarna, the global digital bank and payments provider, today announced that the Klarna Card has reached 5 million active customers globally, underscoring rapid adoption as consumers shift towards new forms of payment which provide more control over day-to-day money management. The card draws from the customer's own funds for everyday spending, with the option to spread the cost of a specific purchase, like a large appliance or a flight, when it makes sense to do so. The result is a card that offers genuine spending control without the long-term debt obligations that come with traditional credit cards. The card’s growth is reinforced by Klarna’s membership program. The program offers premium perks such as airport lounge access, travel insurance, and lifestyle subscriptions — without requiring users to take on debt, meet spending thresholds, or revolve balances. By separating everyday spending from rewards, Klarna is challenging the strings-attached model legacy banks have long relied on
Stonebranch Releases 2026 Global State of IT Automation Report, Revealing Orchestration as the Missing Link for AI Adoption and Trust19.3.2026 14:30:00 CET | Press release
New research shows hybrid IT orchestration, automation-as-a-service, and WLA investments are accelerating as AI workflow deployment scales across the enterprise. Stonebranch, a leading provider of service orchestration and automation solutions, today released its annual 2026 Global State of IT Automation Report, the company’s most comprehensive research study to date. Based on responses from 402 IT automation professionals spanning C-suite executives to individual contributors across North America, EMEA, Latin America, and APAC, the report provides a detailed, data-driven portrait of how enterprises are investing in, deploying, and deriving value from IT automation in 2026. “This year’s findings highlight an important shift in how organizations approach automation,” said Giuseppe Damiani, CEO of Stonebranch. “Organizations are now building automation as strategic infrastructure — a governed, scalable foundation that spans hybrid environments, operationalizes AI, and delivers automation
Perma-Pipe Accelerates Growth with New U.S. Northeast Facility Investment to serve Artificial Intelligence Data Center customers, Provides Middle East Operations’ Update and Concludes the Board’s Review of Strategic Alternatives19.3.2026 14:00:00 CET | Press release
Perma-Pipe International Holdings, Inc. (the “Company”) today announced a strategic expansion initiative focused on accelerating growth through entry into the high-demand U.S. Northeast region. The Company is positioning itself to capitalize on the rapidly expanding Artificial Intelligence (“AI”)-driven data center market in both the United States and international markets while continuing to reinforce its leadership in critical infrastructure solutions. As part of this growth strategy, Perma-Pipe will prioritize investments aimed at expanding its presence in the rapidly evolving AI data center sector. The initiative reflects the Company’s long-term commitment to supporting next-generation technology infrastructure and strengthening its position in the global energy, industrial, and infrastructure markets. Expansion in the U.S. Northeast President & Chief Executive Officer, Saleh Sagr said, “We are excited to announce the expansion of our operations with a new facility in the Northeast
Armis Launches First-of-Its-Kind Benchmark Report Warning of Critical Security Gaps in AI-Native Development19.3.2026 13:00:00 CET | Press release
Research reveals 100% of leading generative AI models fail to generate secure code for critical development scenarios Armis, the cyber exposure management & security company, is warning that the rapid enterprise adoption of AI-native development is outpacing critical security safeguards, leaving organizations exposed to systemic vulnerabilities. New research from Armis Labs’ Trusted Vibing Benchmark Report, which evaluates 18 leading generative AI models across 31 test scenarios, reveals a 100% failure rate in generating secure code. These vulnerabilities are most prevalent in high-risk areas like memory buffer overflows, design file uploads and authentication systems. Therefore, organizations should immediately implement AI-native application security controls to reduce risk. “The era of vibe coding is here, but speed should not come at the cost of security,” said Nadir Izrael, CTO and Co-Founder of Armis. “Our research finds that the worst offenders are the same ones selling security
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom