The funding round was led by Archangels , one of the world ' s longestrunning business angel investment syndicates , with participation from Eos Advisory , Old College Capital and Hanna Capital SEZC .

The Edinburgh-based business has created the Lifeglov – a soft robotic glove which offers rehabilitation for both the closing and opening strength of the hand . The glove monitors key metrics related to upper limb mobility and can show improvement as the patient progresses through their rehab .

The Lifeglov is accompanied by a digital therapy platform , which provides the patient with tailored exercises to help develop natural hand strength . For stroke survivors , the glove helps carry out rehabilitation from the home . For occupational therapists , the glove is a tool to help manage their patients remotely and improve patient outcomes .

The new funding will allow Bioliberty to complete development of the trial product and finalise the development of its platform . The funding is also anticipated to fund the business through obtaining FDA approval and early commercial engagement in the US with rehabilitation clinics .

In the US alone , there are more than 800,000 strokes every year with 88 % of patients left with upper limb weakness .

At the same time , there is an urgent need for at-home occupational therapy services , with demand for such services forecast to outpace the supply within all 50 states of the US by 2030 .

Bioliberty ’ s Lifeglov provides a solution and its use of soft robotics in rehabilitation , which is currently unique in the market , means the product is more pliable , comfortable and complementary to the upper arm while also generating useful data related to stroke recovery .

The initial application is in the upper limb rehabilitation market , but it is anticipated that the technology will have a broad range of clinical applications including lower limb .

“ Our aim at Bioliberty is to empower every human to live a longer independent life by providing assistive robotics and rehabilitative technologies ,” said Rowan Armstrong , CEO at Bioliberty .

“ The Lifeglov is a first step on this journey and the funding announced will allow us to complete its development , along with our software platform , while preparing the runway for our US sales push . We ’ re confident in our technology and excited by the benefits it can deliver for both patients and occupational therapists .” �

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