Numerous companies have tried and failed to develop a device that can measure blood sugar levels without pricking the skin for a blood sample. Even Alphabet had a go at it with contact lenses for diabetic patients, but abandoned the project in 2018.
Still, the quest for non-invasive glucose monitoring continues to captivate scientists and investors. A slew of startups and several large companies, including Apple, are working on various approaches to solving the puzzle.
Berlin-based Quantune Technologies may have made some progress: Its founders, Dr. Jan Kischkat (pictured above at the far right) and Nikolaus Hahne (pictured above, second from right), said they have succeeded in reducing the size of an infrared laser spectrometer to a much smaller size. Laser spectrometers are normally bulky devices that can measure glucose and other molecules non-invasively in interstitial fluid, which nourishes all the cells and is present right below the skin, Kischkat explained.
The company’s goal is to embed its technology in a wrist-worn device that can be used by anyone, not just diabetics, since continuous blood glucose monitoring has many applications in sports and weight management.
But first, Quantune needs to get two things right: shrink its device further and get it to work outside the lab.
“[This technology] works beautifully in a lab. In the lab, everything is super stable. You can stabilize the temperature. You can stabilize the pressure when you push your arm against the sensor,” Kischkat said. “When you’re going out and taking this thing jogging, everything vibrates, everything moves around. You need a stable reference point for every measurement.”
To bolster its R&D, the company just raised €8.5 million ($9.05 million) in seed funding from Point72 Ventures (a firm founded by prominent hedge fund manager Steven Cohen) and Munich-based Vsquared Ventures.
The company expects this R&D process to take about two years, but given that even deep-pocketed Apple has been hacking away at its non-invasive glucose monitoring research for reportedly 12 years now, Quantune’s timeline may be ambitious.
Kischkat and Hahne told TechCrunch that the seed funding will also go towards hiring additional staff. The company was previously awarded €5 million ($5.3 million) in public grants awarded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the Investment Bank of Berlin (IBB)
Other startups trying to crack the code on needle-free blood sugar monitoring include Synex Medical, which in September raised $22 million, and HME Square, which uses photoacoustics, a technique that combines the principles of optics and acoustics to image biological tissues (such as blood).
In 2021, GraphWear raised a $20.5 million Series B for developing technology that can fit into a watch. The company hasn’t provided any public updates on its scientific progress since then.
In recent years, the FDA has approved several continuous glucose monitoring devices, including the FreeStyle Libre in 2017. While these devices offer significant benefits, they still require a small, needle-like sensor inserted under the skin to measure glucose levels.
