Mary Lou Jepsen’s latest $100m venture leverages semiconductor physics, light, and sound to diagnose and treat disease at a cellular level.
Medical technology company Openwater has secured $54 million in new funding from a range of new and existing investors, bringing the total raised by the company to $100 million. The company, founded by former Google and Meta exec Mary Lou Jepsen, is working on a platform that integrates semiconductor physics, light, and sound to diagnose and treat diseases at the cellular level.
Openwater’s platform brings together high-resolution infrared imaging, precision-tuned ultrasound, and electromagnetic fields, to enable the real-time visualization and treatment of biological conditions. The company claims its approach enables non-invasive monitoring and targeted therapies, offering the ability to destroy harmful cells, while leaving healthy ones intact.
Likened to the way a specific sound frequency can shatter a wine glass without affecting surrounding objects, this selective targeting has been demonstrated in preclinical and clinical studies, and was shown to shrink glioblastoma tumors in mice and help treat severe depression in humans.
By employing an interesting open-source approach and utilizing manufacturing techniques common in consumer electronics, Openwater seeks to significantly reduce the costs and time typically associated with medical device development. The company believes it can bring products to market in under three years, a sharp contrast to the average 13-year timeline often seen in the industry.
“The human body is an incredible machine, but like any machine, it needs the right tools for maintenance and repair,” said brain tumor survivor Jepsen, who previously founded multi-billion-dollar non-profit One Laptop per Child to improve education in developing countries.
“With Openwater, we’re creating those tools, using the fundamental forces of nature – light and sound – to diagnose and heal at the cellular level. Our goal is nothing less than democratizing advanced healthcare, making it accessible to everyone, everywhere.”
New and existing investors in Openwater include Plum Alley Ventures, Khosla Ventures, BOLD Capital Partners, Esther Dyson, and musician and human rights activist Peter Gabriel, among others. According to a press release, Gabriel was instrumental in the company’s creation and even came up with its name.
“By leveraging existing consumer electronics supply chains and an open-source model, Openwater is positioned to scale quickly and cost-effectively,” said Plum Alley’s Deborah Jackson. “This could dramatically compress the typical timeline for medical innovation, potentially saving millions of lives and billions of dollars in healthcare costs. In a market hungry for affordable, accessible healthcare solutions, Openwater’s platform addresses critical needs.”
Openwater has established collaborations with several prominent institutions, including UCLA, the University of Arizona, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University, to validate its platform across a wide range of medical fields.
Photograph: Angelov1/Envato