The following is a repost of an article from Buffalo Business First featuring 43North Y6 portfolio company Circuit Clinical.
Circuit Clinical emerged from the early complexities of building a business model around an ideal.
It survived the Covid-19 pandemic while doubling its revenue.
Now it’s time to step on the gas pedal.
The Buffalo-based firm has completed a $7.5 million Series B funding round that will support the national expansion goal of Dr. Irfan Khan, founder and CEO. Circuit Clinical is building a network of doctors who can participate in clinical trials, bringing innovative treatments to patients who would otherwise have to travel to centralized medical centers.
The round included participation from LabCorp, one of the world’s largest clinical laboratory corporations, which is also partnering with Circuit Clinical.
“The investment is part of a broad strategic partnership that accelerates Circuit’s access to LabCorp’s health system clients,” Khan said. “We are working closely with our partners at LabCorp and to prove out the scale challenges we’ll need to solve to become a clinical trial company with a national footprint.”
The round featured about $4 million in contributions from local funding sources, including the Western New York Impact Investment Fund, Launch NY, Rochester Angels, Buffalo Angels and members of Charles Lannon’s investment network.
“It demonstrates, definitively, that it is possible to raise significant capital in Western New York,” Khan said. “We think the key is building relationships and demonstrating a serious, foundational commitment to the wellbeing of the Western New York economy.”
Khan was the director of the electrophysiology lab at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, where he saw patients struggle with access to clinical trials. He thought there was a way to engage doctors who wanted to participate in those trials with patients who needed them, and he resigned in late 2015 to make Circuit Clinical his full-time pursuit.
The company won a $500,000 award during the 2019 version of the 43North competition and entered 2020 with about 20 employees. Now it has about 35 employees, most of whom work out of its space at the 43North incubator in Seneca One Tower. Circuit Clinical recently expanded its footprint in that space.
“We’re really thrilled to be attracting terrific talent from Western New York,” Khan said. “We are continuing our commitment to being a company that prioritizes diversity and inclusion, both for our patients and doctors as well as our team.”
Circuit Clinical also developed a software platform, TrialScout, which complements its clinical trials network. Khan refers to TrialScout as the “Yelp of clinical trials.”
He said that Circuit Clinical is on a “clear path to profitability.” The startup began 2020 by providing access to clinical trials through a network of doctors in the Buffalo region, then expanded to eastern parts of New York state and New Jersey. Khan said that footprint is poised to grow quickly.
“We are in full high-growth mode,” he said. The raise “gives us growth capital to expand along the eastern seaboard and beyond.”
