Openwater Secures $100 Million

<p><strong>SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;strong> &&num;8211&semi;Openwater announced the acceleration of its plans to commercialize its hospital-grade technology platform that integrates semiconductor physics&comma; light&comma; and sound to diagnose and treat diseases at the cellular level&period; The company&comma; founded by brain tumor survivor and former Google X&comma; Meta&comma; and &&num;8220&semi;One Laptop Per Child&&num;8221&semi; executive Mary Lou Jepsen&comma; has secured &dollar;100 million in total funding from new and existing investors to advance its mission of making advanced medical care accessible worldwide&period; New and existing investors include Plum Alley Ventures&comma; Khosla Ventures&comma; BOLD Capital Partners&comma; Esther Dyson&comma; and Peter Gabriel&comma; among others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Openwater&&num;8217&semi;s healthcare platform combines high-resolution infrared imaging&comma; precision-tuned ultrasound&comma; and targeted electromagnetic fields&period; This integration enables unprecedented visualization&comma; monitoring&comma; and treatment of biological issues&period; The technology can selectively destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unaffected&comma; similar to how an opera singer&&num;8217&semi;s voice can shatter a specific wine glass without disturbing others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;As a brain tumor survivor&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m not just developing technology&semi; I&&num;8217&semi;m fighting for my life and the lives of millions like me&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Mary Lou Jepsen&comma; Openwater&&num;8217&semi;s founder and Chief Executive Officer&period; &&num;8220&semi;We&&num;8217&semi;ve shrunk brain tumors and treated depression using lower intensity sound waves than fetal ultrasounds&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Preclinical and clinical studies have shown promising results&comma; including shrinking glioblastoma tumors in mice and treating severe depression in humans&period; Collaborations with institutions including UCLA&comma; the University of Arizona&comma; the University of Pennsylvania&comma; and Brown University have validated the technology&&num;8217&semi;s potential across multiple medical fields&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Openwater&&num;8217&semi;s open-source approach aims to accelerate medical innovation by reducing complex medical device regulatory time and costs&period; This strategy could cut time to market from 13 years to under 3 years&comma; and from &dollar;658 million1&comma;2 to around &dollar;10 million&period; By leveraging consumer electronics manufacturing processes&comma; Openwater is addressing the challenge of making advanced medical capabilities more accessible and affordable globally&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The company&&num;8217&semi;s timing is crucial&period; The convergence of recent advancements in optoelectronics&comma; precision electronics&comma; and resonance-based therapies&comma; coupled with the growing global demand for accessible and effective medical solutions&comma; creates a unique opportunity to transform healthcare&period; Openwater&&num;8217&semi;s platform addresses these needs by potentially alleviating the economic burden on healthcare systems and individuals worldwide&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Openwater represents a rare confluence of transformative technology&comma; market readiness&comma; and global impact potential&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Deborah Jackson&comma; Founder&comma; Plum Alley Ventures&period; &&num;8220&semi;By leveraging existing consumer electronics supply chains and an open-source model&comma; Openwater is positioned to scale quickly and cost-effectively&period; This could dramatically compress the typical timeline for medical innovation&comma; potentially saving millions of lives and billions of dollars in healthcare costs&period; In a market hungry for affordable&comma; accessible healthcare solutions&comma; Openwater&&num;8217&semi;s platform addresses critical needs&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Peter Gabriel&comma; renowned musician&comma; human rights activist&comma; and investor&comma; played a significant role in Openwater&&num;8217&semi;s inception&period; Gabriel encouraged Jepsen to set out on her own and even named the company Openwater&period; He has been an active investor and close advisor&period; Openwater is part of his vision of affordable&comma; cutting-edge healthcare for the home&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;