Duke spinout with former FDA commissioner on board raises $6M

A Duke University-born technology firm aimed at connecting hospital data with clinical research is raising millions – and it plans to hire in Durham.

Clinetic Inc., a technology firm trying to improve patient health through the application of day-to-day data, raised more than $6.4 million, even amid a global pandemic. The three-person firm raised the funds from four equity investors, a securities filing shows.

CEO Tom Kaminski said the fundraising was boosted by the traction the company has had in signing customer agreements.

The money will go toward building up the team. If all goes as he predicts, the team could be between 15 and 25 people by the end of the year. Specifically, the plan is to build up the core software team, from software engineers to data scientists.

“We really need the arms and legs to do the work,” he said. “Not only the work we’ve contracted for, but the work we want to continue to bring in.”

The firm’s customers are pharma and biotech companies, organizations interested in medical research, Kaminski said. The technology, which started in a Duke University laboratory, uses data collected in routine patient encounters for research.

In addition to Kaminski and founding “visionary” and current board chairman Allan Kirk (the chair of surgery at Duke University), the filing lists Robert Califf as a member of the firm’s board. Califf is a Duke cardiologist and the former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.

Clinetic is just the latest growth company in the Triangle to close on an equity investment. Through Feb. 4, growth firms had raised more than $45 million, according to securities filings.