Scottish tech firm secures £2.2m to fund robotics innovation

Scottish technology firm Bioliberty has secured £2.2m in funding to develop a unique soft robotic glove which can restore upper limb mobility in patients following a stroke.

The funding round was led by Archangels, the world’s longest running business angel investment syndicate, with participation from Eos Advisory, Old College Capital and Hanna Capital SEZC.

The Edinburgh-based business has created the Lifeglov – a soft robotic glove which offers rehabilitation for both the closing and opening strength of the hand. The glove monitors key metrics related to upper limb mobility and can show improvement as the patient progresses through their rehab.

The Lifeglov is accompanied by a Digital Therapy Platform, which provides the patient with tailored exercises to help develop natural hand strength. For stroke survivors, the glove helps carry out rehabilitation from the home. For Occupational Therapists, the glove is a tool to help manage their patients remotely and improve patient outcomes.

The new funding will allow Bioliberty to complete development of the trial product and finalise the development of its platform. The funding is also anticipated to fund the business through obtaining FDA approval and early commercial engagement in the US with rehabilitation clinics.

In the US alone, there are more than 800,000 strokes every year, with 88 per cent of patients left with upper limb weakness. At the same time, there is an urgent need for at-home occupational therapy services, with demand for such services forecast to outpace the supply within all 50 states of the US by 2030.

Bioliberty’s Lifeglov provides a solution and its use of soft robotics in rehabilitation, which is currently unique in the market, means the product is more pliable, comfortable and complementary to the upper arm whilst also generating useful data related to stroke recovery.

The initial application is in the upper limb rehabilitation market, but it is anticipated that the technology will have a broad range of clinical applications including lower limb.

Rowan Armstrong, CEO at Bioliberty, said: “Our aim at Bioliberty is to empower every human to live a longer independent life by providing assistive robotics and rehabilitative technologies. We’re confident in our technology and excited by the benefits it can deliver for both patients and occupational therapists.”

Niki McKenzie, joint managing director at Archangels, said: “Archangels is excited to be supporting the team as they finalise what we hope will be the first of many products and start scaling up their sales activity.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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