News

Hemanext Announces Close of Series B Equity Funding Round

Hemanext Inc., a leading innovator in blood processing, storage, and transfusion technology, today announced the successful first close of its Series B fundraising round. Taken together with the exercise of outstanding warrants, this close brings an additional $18 million of equity capital from noted global private investors with deep finance and healthcare expertise. To date, the company has raised approximately $130mm (inclusive of $8mm in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health).

The Company also announced the appointment of Dr. Ismail Kola to its Board of Directors. Dr. Kola was formerly Executive Vice President of UCB S.A. and President and Chief Scientific Officer of UCB New Medicines. He previously served as Chief Scientific Officer at Schering-Plough Corporation and held various senior positions at Merck. Dr. Kola holds a Ph.D. in Medicine from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and has held several professorships at leading universities worldwide, including Cambridge University. This announcement of Dr. Kola’s appointment follows that of Dr. Paul Ness, formerly Senior Director of the Division of Transfusion Medicine at Johns Hopkins University, earlier this year.

Martin Cannon, CEO of Hemanext, said: “As Hemanext advances on all fronts, we are fortunate and gratified to be supported by an exceptional group of successful and respected new investors who have joined our core investment community in this B round. Among them is Dr. Kola, who also joins our Board of Directors and strengthens our expanding community of world-class medical thought leaders. Dr. Kola has built an extraordinarily successful career in the development and commercialization of therapeutic solutions to some of the most challenging clinical problems. With his broad drug development expertise, and his global scientific stature as a trusted strategic resource to many pioneering biotechnology and life science companies, Hemanext will benefit greatly from his passion for patient welfare and recognized expertise in areas vital for the realization of the enormous potential of our company.”

Dr. Ismail Kola said: “I believe there is a significant unmet need in transfusion medicine that makes Hemanext’s technology and mission absolutely essential to the global healthcare ecosystem. I have spent my career bringing life-changing new therapies to fruition, with the ultimate goal of making patients’ lives better. That is what excites me most about Hemanext—its patient-centric approach. I look forward to supporting the company as it continues to expand its presence and bring its new technology to the market.”

Commercial Launch in Europe

In August, Hemanext entered into distribution agreements with two leading medical device distributors in the Nordics and Italy, bolstering its sales capabilities across key European markets and strengthening its relationships with top blood centers and clinicians in each region.

Hemanext has now received initial commercial orders in Europe, with implementation planned in several blood establishments by the end of the year. This milestone comes after the Company received CE Mark certification for the Hemanext ONE Red Blood Cell (RBC) Processing and Storage System in 2021 and commenced targeted post CE-mark certification clinical studies in 2022. The Company looks forward to expanding its presence into additional markets in Europe in 2023.

Series B and C Equity Rounds

The Company will be keeping the current Series B available to investors for the next few weeks. Hemanext expects to begin a Series C round with institutional investors in 2023.

Sonenshine Fulford Group, a collaboration between Sonenshine Partners in the U.S. and The Fulford Group in the U.K., is advising Hemanext in its fundraising.

About Hemanext

Hemanext is a privately held medical technology company based in Lexington, MA that is dedicated to improving the quality, safety, efficacy, and cost of transfusion therapy. The company’s research and development efforts center on the study of hypoxically stored red blood cells (RBCs). The company’s aim is to significantly improve the quality of stored RBCs.

About Hemanext ONE®

In Europe, the system is CE Marked for the processing and storage CPD/PAGGSM Red Blood Cells, Leukocytes Reduced (LR RBC) that have been prepared and processed with the HEMANEXT ONE system within 24 hours of collection. The HEMANEXT ONE system limits the O2 and CO2 levels in the storage environment. Red Blood Cells Leukocytes Reduced, O2/CO2 Reduced may be stored for up to 42 days at 1-6°C. HEMANEXT ONE is used for volumes no greater than 350 ml of LR RBC.1

In the United States, the product remains available for investigational use only, pending marketing authorization from the FDA.

Preclinical data show that the medical device can maintain RBCs at or below 20% oxygen saturation for up to 42 days2, thereby creating hypoxic RBCs. Clinical studies are underway to measure the impact of hypoxic RBCs on patient outcomes and the potential cost savings.3,4

Hemanext Media Contact
Nathan Riggs / Hallie Wolff
nathan.riggs@kekstcnc.com / Hallie.Wolff@kekstcnc.com

  1. Hemanext ONE®, Instructions for Use for the European Union (April 2021), DOF
  2. Brouard, D et al. Vox Sang 2018; 113: 153.2018.
  3. Frank, S et al. Anesthesiology 2017;127(5):754-764.
  4. DOF. Document.Calculation.2021
Previous
Next

By producing higher quality RBCs, the Hemanext ONE system has the potential to enable fewer and more effective transfusions for patients. I am truly excited by the possibility of bringing this improved red blood cell replacement therapy to populations in the U.S. that have been waiting for a transformative technology like this one.

Dr. Philip C. Spinella
Professor, Department of Surgery and Department of Critical Care Medicine at University of Pittsburgh

We value our partnership with Hemanext to enhance blood product quality and availability. Hemanext ONE has the potential to strengthen the resiliency of the blood supply, and this FDA authorization is a significant milestone to that end.

Ralph Vassallo, MD, FACP
Executive Vice President, Chief Medical and Scientific Officer of Vitalant

The Hemanext ONE system offers promise to improve the treatment landscape for patients burdened by transfusions and could be an essential step towards performing fewer and better transfusions. Having long championed Hemanext’s transformative initiatives, I eagerly anticipate witnessing the positive influence, right here in the United States, on the advancement of transfusion therapy quality.

Paul M. Ness, MD
Former Director, Division of Transfusion Medicine at Johns Hopkins University and board member of Hemanext

By deoxygenating red cells and maintaining them in their hypoxic state throughout storage, the resulting red cells experience less oxidative stress and oxidative damage, have improved metabolism, and are also more deformable leading to improved micro vascular profusion and less hemolysis.

Dr. Steven Spitalnik, MD
Co-Director of the Laboratory of Transfusion Biology, Colombia University

The preclinical data by Williams et al. show anaerobically stored RBCs achieve multiple clinically important functional resuscitation goals, with a smaller volume of fluid and the FDA benchmark of 24-hour RBC recovery. I look forward to the clinical trials in bleeding patients.

John Holcomb, MD, FACS
University of Alabama at Birmingham

I have had several patients who have received Hemanext hypoxic blood, and several of the patients have personally said thanks for having been given the opportunity and also that they have felt better after transfusion with hypoxic blood compared to conventional transfusion. One must of course be careful not to attach too much importance to such observations, but I would still like to mention that there has been a remarkable tendency towards this.

Håkon Reikvam, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Norway

CONTACT US  |  TERMS OF USE

PRIVACY & COOKIES POLICY

This website may contain information on products or uses of those products that are not authorized in all countries or regions. Hemanext ONE has been granted marketing authorization for commercial distribution via the De Novo process by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In Europe Hemanext ONE is CE marked which allows the medical device to be placed in the market in the EEA. Illustrations are artist’s representations only and should not be considered as engineering drawings or photographs. Hemanext, Hemanext ONE, and the logos are registered trademarks of Hemanext, Inc. © 2026 Hemanext, Inc. All rights reserved.

Contact Us