Germ-Zapping Robots Producer, Xenex, Secures $25 Million in New Funding

Xenex Disinfection Services, the world leader in automated environmental disinfection technology for healthcare facilities, today announced it has secured $25 million in new funding. The financing includes new participation from Brandon Point Industries Limited (Brandon Point) and continued investment from existing investors including Battery Ventures, Targeted Technology Fund II and RK Ventures. The financing will be used for product development, international expansion and increasing the company's U.S. sales force.

Hospitals Penalized for Infection Rates

U.S. hospitals face decreasing reimbursements and increased public scrutiny as the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and its Hospital Compare website focus on reducing healthcare associated infections (HAIs). A growing number of U.S. healthcare facilities are now evaluating new technologies for room disinfection as a means to eliminate the deadly pathogens that cause HAIs. Xenex’s patented pulsed xenon Full Spectrum™ ultraviolet (UV) disinfection technology is proven to quickly destroy the viruses, bacteria, mold, fungus and bacterial spores in healthcare facilities that cause infections. There are now six peer reviewed studies confirming the efficacy of the Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot™ in the healthcare environment, including three studies showing a decrease in C.diff, MRSA and MDRO infections when the hospital used the Xenex robot for room disinfection.

“Hospital acquired infections are a global problem and we have proven that the use of our germ-zapping robot provides a cleaner, and therefore safer healthcare environment,” said Morris Miller, CEO of Xenex. “We are positioned for growth in 2015 and beyond because we have a unique opportunity to do a service for humanity while having a dramatic impact on a hospital’s bottom line. 724 U.S. hospitals were recently fined as a result of Value Based Purchasing for causing infections – and we can help. Concern over the spread of the Ebola virus has highlighted the fact that more can and should be done to improve the healthcare environment that is responsible for making patients and healthcare workers sick.”

Uniquely designed for ease of use and portability, a hospital’s environmental services staff can operate the Xenex robot without disrupting hospital operations and without using expensive chemicals. With a five-minute disinfection cycle, the robot disinfects 30-62 hospital rooms per day (according to Xenex customers), including patient rooms, operating rooms, equipment rooms, emergency rooms, intensive care units and public areas. More than 250 hospitals, Veterans Affairs and DoD facilities in the U.S. are using Xenex robots, which are also in use in skilled nursing facilities, ambulatory surgery centers and long term acute care facilities.

Germ-Zapping Robots Proven to Quickly Destroy Superbugs

President Obama recently brought the issue of multi-drug resistant organisms (MDRO) to a national security level and issued an Executive Order to stop the spread of drug resistant superbugs. Proven to easily destroy these superbugs, the Xenex robot contains no toxic mercury or hydrogen peroxide, and it is the only UV disinfection technology that uses xenon, an environmentally-friendly inert gas, to create UV light. The intense, broad-spectrum light penetrates the pathogens’ cell walls, causing the DNA to fuse instantly, rendering them unable to reproduce or mutate.

Kelly Martin, a co-founder of Brandon Point, stated, “On behalf of Brandon Point, we are looking forward to working with and supporting the Xenex executive team and organization as well as complementing their current investors. The company’s unique technology can address important and immediate patient and healthcare worker needs due to urgent worldwide disease outbreaks. Through our collective and multi-faceted industry experiences housed within Brandon Point, we look forward to providing relevant guidance and assistance to Xenex’s management team.”