Copyright © 2017, The Oklahoma Publishing Co.
STILLWATER — A Stillwater-based startup company that makes insulated shipping packages for blood and other biological agents has raised more than $1.33 million, including $889,000 in funding led by i2E Inc.
MaxQ sells reusable or one-way shipping systems for donor blood collection, hospital distribution, vaccines and biological agents. Its packaging systems lower costs and reduce inefficiencies from the blood transport workflow.
“Lifesaving biological products like blood, vaccines and pharmaceuticals must be stored and transported within a specific cold chain,” said Saravan Kumar, MaxQ CEO. “For instance, a unit of blood, which costs $250 to $500, must be maintained under precise temperatures during transport. Deviation from required temperature range during handling could potentially affect the viability of the blood unit leading to it being discarded or, worse yet, lead to adverse clinical outcomes during transfusion.”
The investment round included $300,000 from the i2E-managed Oklahoma Seed Capital Fund, as well as $125,000 from the i2E-managed Oklahoma Angel Fund. Another $464,000 was invested by members of the SeedStep Angels, an Oklahoma investment group founded and managed by i2E and other investors.
In addition, MaxQ could receive an additional $444,500 in Phase IIB supplemental funding from the National Science Foundation.
“The majority of funds from this Series A investment round will be used to expand our marketing and sales operations, and vertically integrate production,” Kumar said. “With this capital raise, our primary goal is to establish MaxQ as the leading total packaging solutions provider in the blood packaging industry.”
