Piavita Closes a $5.5 Million Series A Funding Round

28.02.2018 16:30, Linda Seward

Dorina Thiess, Co-Founder & CEO of Piavita travelled to San Francisco with Venture Leaders Technology 2017 where she met her two investors. we spoke to Dorina to ask her about this fantastic news.

A medtech firm, developing a comprehensive vetinary tool to record the vital signs of horses, the company will use the cash injection to expand production and pushing into international markets.

What made you apply to Venture Leaders Technology last year? As a Medtech company were you tempted to apply for Venture Leaders Life Sciences instead?
I had heard of the Venture Leaders Technology program already several times and always thought it is a huge opportunity to make the best out of a short trip to Silicon Valley. And that absolutely came true - when we did our trip to Silicon Valley and San Francisco last spring, the full week was perfectly organized and we were able to strongly connect with the scene in Silicon Valley. That helped a lot for preparing our financing round. As health and high-precision measurement of vital signs is a big topic in various industries and as we have a strong IoT part in our solution, we assumed that we would fit better into the high-tech cluster rather than the Life Science cluster of Venture Leaders. Alike, we do not have to deal with the same amount of regulatory barriers like other medtech companies, so we were already close to market entry back then and were looking for the exchange with other startups at a similar stage.



How did you prepare for the funding round with investors?
First of all, we collected all materials and information that we had so far and focused on the milestones we have already reached and achievements we were able to demonstrate. We tried to strongly participate in networking events and also our current shareholders gave numerous introductions to possible interested parties. You have Silicon Valley investors.

Did Venture Leaders help you with that?
Yes, absolutely. First, the Venture Leaders trip to Silicon Valley gave the initial contact to both our A-Series investors: True Ventures and FyrFly Ventures. During that trip, we gained in-depth knowledge and understanding on how to approach Silicon Valley VCs, understand their funding processes and approaches, and knew how to be best prepared for due diligence with them. Second, in fall 2017, there was a fireside chat organised by Venturelab together with Toni Schneider (True Ventures) which then was the starting point of Closing our Financing Round with them.

What made you approach Silicon Valley investors rather than looking closer to home?
We never excluded any investors or VCs based on their region, we also had various discussions and talks with investors in Switzerland and Germany. However, what we like a lot about True Ventures, is their enormous supporting program for their portfolio startups, the strong emphasis on exchange between all the True-startups, and the strong experience they have with scaling and internationalization.



Investor and partner at True Ventures, Toni Schneider said “We are excited to back the highly talented Piavita team in their mission to bring
Congratulations once again to Dorina and her team on this fantastic achievement.

About Piavita
Piavita is a veterinary medtech startup focused on producing world-leading technologies that bring veterinary care into the 21st century. Our mission is to equip veterinarians with high-tech medical equipment to help reduce time spent on day-to-day processes. By combining our proprietary sensor technologies with machine learning, we enable highprecision vital sign measurements without direct skin contact. In other words, our device measures vital signs through animal fur. The Piavita System saves veterinarians loads of time, removes the stress of taking measurements for both vet and patient, and brings the benefits of digitalization to the veterinary industry. Piavita owns the world’s largest raw dataset tied to uninfluenced animal health. For more information, visit www.piavita.com.

About True Ventures
Founded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology startups. With capital under management in excess of $1.4 billion, True provides seed and Series A funding to the most talented entrepreneurs in today’s fastest growing markets. The firm maintains a strong founder community and offers innovative educational opportunities to its portfolio, helping entrepreneurs achieve higher levels of success and impact. With more than 200 companies funded and multiple companies acquired, the current True portfolio has helped create over 8,500 jobs. To learn more about True Ventures, visit www.trueventures.com.

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