With European Patent Coming Soon, Metisense Explores Markets Abroad

Atlanta-based MetiSense LLC makes no bones about where it stands on its company journey: It’s a pre-seed startup on the hunt for $1.5 million in funding that will go toward prototyping. 

But its accomplished founders believe they’re building on a solid foundation — their intellectual property — at a time when their product should find strong demand in two of the world’s largest industries: health care and energy. 

MetiSense’s technology — set to gain a European patent in late September to add to its U.S. IP — is a micro sensor about the size of an ant’s head, a glass-coated semiconductor that can detect specific gas molecules and properties of breath. 

Ted Miller, a co-founder of the company and inventor of the sensor, says it was created to sit at the confluence of digital health and respiratory diagnostics. Embedded in some future device, it would tackle “hard part” of separating carbon dioxide from other exhaled compounds, all with the goal of quicker vitals and more accurate diagnostics. 

“The way God made breathing, it’s 4 percent CO2 when we exhale,” Ted Miller says, noting that the sensor can parse out carbon dioxide and water vapor from other molecules with differing weights.

The Dow Chemical veteran has decades of experience with chromatography, having led a team inside the Michigan-based chemical giant charged with creating new modes of detection. About 40 of his team’s inventions were patented, with six being licensed for outside use.  

He sees an “inertia” in the measurement sciences that’s incongruous with the opportunities presented by the convergence of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. 

“That is happening fast, and our new patents here will try to leverage that onset of AI,” Ted says.

For the same reasons it works in health, the founders see another potential use case that could pay dividends both for the company and the climate: detection of methane, a greenhouse gas more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to retaining heat in the atmosphere. 

Methane leaks from landfills, power plants and cattle-raising operations, presenting a serious environmental challenge that right now is costly to tackle, says CEO Mark Miller (no relation to Ted), another of the company’s owners. 

MetiSense sees a way for industrial site operators to replace separate systems for monitoring airflow, leaks and temperature with a cost-effective and connected solution that provides better insights.

The company has also seen interest from those who would incorporate its sensors into drones for remote monitoring, replacing expensive cameras. 

“Drone makers love us,” Mark Miller says, but he acknowledged that the market needs to see the sensor in action, which is why MetiSense is seeking more funding to build out prototypes of the chip itself and devices that could use it. 

“We really need to go another step,” Mark says, in both manufacturing or licensing.  

Speaking from his decades of experience, Ted Miller agreed: “It’s easy to get a patent, but having anybody care and put out dollars to buy instruments, that’s another story.” 

Dutch Opportunities 

The company is betting that Europe will care more, given its more stringent emissions regulations and many single-payer health care systems that could potentially procure future diagnostic devices. 

With an eye toward its patent, Metisense began exploring opportunities in the Netherlands through its connections in Atlanta. 

Former Dutch chamber President Manori da Silva, an attorney with Clark Hill, put the company in touch with the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency’s local office, and discussions are underway in places like Eindhoven and Rotterdam. 

The European Union has notified the company of its formal intention to grant the patent, a milestone that will open the door for further capital raises and collaboration. 

“I look forward to formal issuance of our European Patent in the next months and, more importantly, working directly with partners there to incorporate this breakthrough IP into their devices,” Ted Miller said. 

For Mark Miller, the CEO, the patent serves an important function: “It’s credibility,” Mr. Miller said, especially in future approaches to leading diagnostic countries like Denmark, Sweden and France.

Meanwhile, MetiSense is weighing its options in other areas of Europe while also striving for more support from home in a tough venture-capital environment. The company is looking to break into Invest Georgia, a consortium of 18 funds that has backed 119 Georgia companies. It’s also pitching venture arms of major oil and gas companies and attending industry and health conferences. 

It’s early, but MetiSense is hopeful it’s on the path to transforming two key sectors from Atlanta, which Mark, a Chicagoan, has visited throughout his career, including during a stint with Lonza, a Swiss biotech, pharmaceutical and nutrition contract manufacturer. 

“The hope and belief is that we can use (Atlanta) as a base to launch into other possibilities and other opportunities.”