Iowa City startup raises $2 million

Aug. 17, 2017 1:41 pm, Updated: Aug. 18, 2017 11:51 am

An Iowa City medical device startup that emerged from the University of Iowa has raised $2 million in investment.

The money, iotaMotion co-founders said Wednesday, will help it continue to develop a robotic-assisted medical device to help surgeons with the installation of cochlear implants, used to improve hearing.

'Our aim is to develop devices that open up access to cochlear implant surgery for a wider audience of both surgeons and patients,” co-founder Marlan Hansen said in a statement.

Chris Kaufmann, also a co-founder, said iotaMotion plans to use the money to hire additional staff, and to further research and development.

Kaufmann said the investors in the $2 million round are confidential but are primarily Midwest investors. In a statement, he said the company raised money from friends and family.

IotaMotion started in 2015 after it spun out of the University of Iowa. It has four employees and previously received $1.7 million in Small Business Innovation Research grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

The company's device still is under development and has not received approval from the Federal Drug Administration, Kaufmann said.

l Comments: (319) 398-8366; matthew.patane@thegazette.com

The Pentacrest, including the Old Capitol, Jessup Hall, Macbride Hall, MacLean Hall, and Schaeffer Hall, in an aerial photograph in Iowa City on Thursday, July 14, 2016. (Stephen Mally/The Gazette)