E25Bio, innovators of rapid diagnostic tests, announced today that it has raised a $2 million financing from Khosla Ventures. Founded in 2018 and based out of The Engine at MIT, the company develops technology for rapid diagnosis of dangerous infectious diseases such as dengue, zika, and now the novel coronavirus.

As the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic continues to grow globally, effective, early and accessible testing has come into focus. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's announcement of fast tracking diagnostics for the virus through its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) has spurred various public and private institutions to create solutions.

"The global public health system will require a concentrated, unified strategy to better respond to the current pandemic," said Dr. Bobby Brooke Herrera, Co-founder and CEO of E25Bio. "We are transforming the system through development of more rapid, accurate, and affordable detectors for the novel coronavirus that can be distributed at scale across geographies."

Based on technology developed by Dr. Irene Bosch and Dr. Lee Gehrke, the Hermann von Helmholtz Professor of Health Sciences and Technology at MIT, E25Bio's rapid diagnostic tests use nanoparticle technology to capture virus or viral proteins secreted into the human body.

"In this time of crisis we need every effort to get testing at scale on the market," said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. "We are excited about what E25Bio is capable of shipping in a short amount of time: a test that is significantly cheaper, more affordable, and available at-home for consumers without having to rely on primary medical services and can lessen the load on our healthcare systems."

"The same way a hormone is detected on a pregnancy test, our diagnostics provides doctors and patients with results in 15 minutes or less," says Dr. Bosch, CTO of E25Bio.

The new funding will go towards research and development, clinical studies, and scaling the company's launch for diagnostic tests upon receiving EUA approval.