Respira Labs, a Latina-led medical technology company specializing in respiratory care, today announces it has closed $2.8 million to continue to develop and produce its chest wearable that uses acoustic resonance to assess lung function and identify changes in lung air volume, which is especially critical for COPD, COVID-19 and asthma patients.

Respira Labs raised $1 million in pre-seed funding led by Zentynel Frontier Investments with participation by VentureWell, ImpactAssets and several angel investors from the United States and Latin America. The company was also awarded an additional $1.8 million in grants from Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR), National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes for Health (NIH) and other startup prizes.

Founded by Harvard and UC Berkeley-trained scientist and translational physician, Dr. Maria Artunduaga, Respira Labs helps patients with respiratory diseases through a wearable lung-function monitoring device using acoustic resonance technology. The team includes hardware, software, data science and clinical experts. Since its founding in 2018, the company has received $2.8 million in funding, including grants from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. The company has been granted three patents for its technology.