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Segterra Inc. Completes Close of Seed Financing
Funding will enable company to complete product development and begin launch
BOSTON, MA (August 25, 2011) – Segterra Inc., today announced that the Company has received $500,000 in Seed financing. The financing was provided by the Mass Technology Development Corporation and private investors. The funds will be used to complete the development and initial launch of a web-based service that helps individuals to optimize their overall health and performance by giving them a unique view into their personal biochemistry. It is the only science-based plan that analyzes your blood to measure key biomarkers related to daily health status and, in conjunction with individual goals for health or athletic achievement, provides nutrition and exercise information and recommendations personalized to your signature biochemistry.
Segterra's founders also announced that Lee Gartley joined as CEO. Lee is a Boston-based entrepreneur with a strong track-record of building innovative information-based products and services. Before joining Segterra, Lee was president of Target Software and Target Analytics and a Senior Vice President of Blackbaud. He grew the Target companies from near start-up, through sale and integration with Blackbaud, into a $50 million business. While there he created a multi-billion record participatory database of philanthropic giving – this unique information asset is used by many of the nation's largest non-profit organizations as a tool to achieve their fundraising goals each year.
"We are happy to have the support of MTDC and our individual investors as we set out to build Segterra into a company that makes a real impact on people's lives", said Segterra CEO Lee Gartley. "Segterra is providing a window into what is going on inside your body – and that is a very powerful thing. A lot of great science has been done to guide our nutrition and fitness decisions, but without some visibility into an individual's unique biochemistry it is very hard to effectively leverage that science. You can't manage what you don't measure and at Segterra our goal is to make that connection so people are empowered to optimize their health and achieve their maximum potential."
"MTDC is thrilled to add Segterra to our investment portfolio," said Dina Routhier, Vice President at MTDC. We were particularly impressed with the experience level of the founding team, and by the early customer pull the Company has been able to show during its beta trials. We believe Segterra has the potential to grow to employ a lot of people in the Commonwealth."
"Dr. Blander, representing Segterra, was one of the presenters at the MTTC's Early Stage Life Sciences Conference that was held in April." Said Abigail Barrow, Director of the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center. "Through the preparation work for this conference, Segterra was introduced to the MTDC. The Company was also successful in recruiting several of the conference participants into the beta trial of its new product. Segterra's recent success in raising funds shows how supportive the Massachusetts community is to start-up companies."
About Segterra
Segterra combines strong science with the unique aspects of a person's physiology to give individuals relevant and targeted information so they can best manage their health and overall performance. The company was co-founded by Drs. Gil Blander, Christian Reich and David Lester, who together bring 60 years of experience in life science research and computational biology. Dr. Blander, the company’s scientific founder, brings to Segterra more than 18 years of experience in systems biology at MIT, the Weizmann Institute (Israel), Genstruct, Compugen, and IBS. Dr. Reich was previously VP of Scientific Research at Genstruct, and held various positions at Millennium, and the European Bioinformatics Institute. Dr. Lester is a recognized leader in Personalized Medicine and diagnostics from Theranos, Gene Express, Pfizer, Pharmacia, and the FDA. Segterra’s scientific advisory board includes professors from MIT, Harvard and Tufts Medical School and is chaired by Dr. David Sinclair, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and cofounder of Sirtris (sold to GSK for $720 million in 2008). More information is available at http://segterra.com/.
About the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation
Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation (MTDC), is a leading edge venture capital firm that addresses the "capital gap" for start-up and expansion of early-stage technology companies operating in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. MTDC has invested in many of Massachusetts' most promising new technology-based companies. More information is available at http://www.mtdc.com.
About the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center
The Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC) was created in 2004 as a program in the Massachusetts Economic Stimulus Bill. Its goal is to support technology transfer activities from public and private research institutions to companies in Massachusetts. To achieve this goal, the Center works with technology transfer offices at Massachusetts research institutions; faculty, researchers, and students who have commercially promising ideas; and companies across the Commonwealth. The MTTC is based in the University of Massachusetts President's Office.
Contacts:
Segterra, Inc.
Lee Gartley, CEO
781 608-9112
lgartley@Segterra.com
MTDC
Dina Routhier, Vice President
drouthier@mtdc.com
Office: (617) 723-4920
MTTC
Abigail Barrow, Director
617-694-0047
abarrow@umassp.edu
