SHE'S INDEPENDENT INVESTS IN ASTEK DIAGNOSTICS' PRE-SERIES A ROUND

BOULDER, Colo. and BALTIMORE, April 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- She's Independent, a member-led angel investing group committed to promoting equitable opportunities and fostering positive change for women, today announced a strategic investment in Astek Diagnostics.

Astek makes the Jiddu™ Analyzer, a urine-based diagnostic tool that is designed to identify urinary tract infections and assess antibiotic sensitivity within one hour. Astek said this tool, which it aims to bring to market in 2025, helps reduce instances of antimicrobial resistance resulting from indiscriminate antibiotic use.

Astek Co-founder and CEO Mustafa Al-Adhami said the vision for the device extends beyond UTIs and that the underlying technology has already been validated by the Astek team with three additional sample types — cerebrospinal fluid with a focus on meningitis, effluent with a focus on surgical site infections, and blood with a focus on bacteremia.

She's Independent's investment follows Astek's recent strategic partnership with MedStar Health, a $7.3 billion not-for-profit health-care system.

"Women, particularly menopausal women and expectant mothers, are disproportionately affected by UTIs. In case of pregnancies, if a UTI is not diagnosed and treated early, it may lead to a kidney infection, which in turn can result in early labor, low birth weight, etc." Al-Adhami said. "As a result, rapid UTI detection and precise antibiotic selection are crucial for women's health. We believe our technology is a game-changer."

"Astek's technology excites a number of our investing members," said Natalie Levy, founder and managing partner of She's Independent.  "We're thrilled to participate in this round and are really impressed with Mustafa and the company's traction thus far."

Al-Adhami said Astek's other investors include Y Combinator, AYANA Capital, Wexford Scitech Venture Fund, Harvard Management Seed Capital, TEDCO, Maryland Momentum Fund, Goldin Ventures, Maryland Technology Development Corporation, Maryland Innovation Initiative, Maryland Industrial Partnerships, Key Technologies, Abell Foundation, and prominent angel investors. Al-Adhami said Astek has also received funding from the National Science Foundation, the Food and Drug Administration, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the National Institute of Health, and others.

Astek is actively working toward FDA marketing authorization application approval and has initiated collaborations with three independent urology clinics to demonstrate the feasibility of the Jiddu Analyzer in small clinical studies using real urine specimens. Astek recently initiated an early access program focused on urology clinics and hospitals in order to deploy the Jiddu Analyzer alpha prototype by mid-2024 in select locations.

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SOURCE She's Independent LLC