Illustrative. Photo: Reuters / Dado Ruvic / Illustration.

Israel’s Sight Diagnostics said on Wednesday it raised $71 million in private funding to expand sales of its finger-prick blood analyzer and support research and development.

Koch Disruptive Technologies, Longliv Ventures, which is part of the CK Hutchison Group, and Israel’s OurCrowd participated in the round, which brings Sight’s total funding to more than $124 million.

The funds will support expansion of commercial operations and advance R&D into the detection of new diseases as well as the blood factors affecting COVID-19 severity.

Founded in 2011, Sight’s analyzer automates the identification and counting of different blood cell types and anomalies. It can deliver complete blood count (CBC) results by measuring 19 different blood parameters in minutes, the company said.

Since receiving clearance from the US Food & Drug Administration in late 2019, Sight said it has secured agreements with healthcare providers and distribution partners to deploy more than 1,000 analyzers over the coming years.

Sight is also working with pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, to provide support for different treatment and therapy. Since early in the pandemic, Sight has deployed its analyzer in healthcare facilities fighting COVID-19, including Israel’s Sheba Tel Hashomer.