With millions raised since founding, Sisu Global Health seeks to grow reach

The six-figure amount that Sisu Global Health raised over the past year or two reflects what the medical device startup’s leader described as its plans to increase its international reach while maintaining Baltimore ties.

According to a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Remington-based company logged about $951,000 — just under $1 million — since April 2021. CEO Carolyn Yarina declined Technicial.ly‘s request to confirm the full amount of money raised in the past year, but said that it was around that amount.

Regardless of the full sum, which is just part of the $4.3 million Yarina said the company has raised since its 2014 founding, the money has enabled Sisu Global Health’s ongoing work in support of urgent medical needs throughout the world.

For instance, the company recently launched its Hemafuse devices in Asia, Africa and Pakistan. It also shipped several of the devices, which allows blood from internal hemorrhages to be reused, the for use in Ukraine. As the company’s reach expands, it remains locally rooted, with all devices made at Baltimore’s Harbor Designs and Manufacturing.

“We’re proud to be a Baltimore company that exports globally, and that’s not going to change,” Yarina said.

The company’s 12 employees are currently distributed across the world in places including the United Kingdom and Africa. Sisu Global Health now plans to expand aggressively in India by hiring for its sales team in that region. Yarina said that this expansion fits within the company’s goals of making blood transfusions easier and less dependent on donors.

“We operate on the idea that your own blood is better than someone else’s,” Yarina said. “We see the potential to be very large not only in emerging markets where there might be a blood shortage, or humanitarian disasters like [in] Ukraine, but also in the United States or any place where time is precious and they need that blood back immediately.”

As for future funding, Yarina said that the company is currently planning a new raise.