Cala Health gets $18M for wearable device that treats hand tremors

Cala Health

Stealth medical device maker Cala Health has secured an $18 million Series A round, according to a regulatory filing. Investors in the company include Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Lux Capital and Lightstone Ventures.

Founded in 2014, the Bay Area company is working on a minimally invasive “wearable therapy for hand tremor.” A Stanford University spinout, Cala Health was founded by Stanford Biodesign 2012 fellow Kate Rosenbluth who won a $10,000 “Boomer” award and $25,000 from a UC Berkeley startup competition for another company, Resido Medical. That company is likely an earlier incarnation of Cala Health, according to MedCityNews.

While it was known as Resido, the company worked on a watch-like device and small brain implant to halt the tremor cycle, one 2013 article says of the technology.

Also listed on the filing is Mark Deem, who is a managing partner at Bay Area medical device incubator The Foundry. Another managing partner, Hanson Gifford, said that both he and Deem are partners with Lightstone Ventures, which also invested in Cala Health. He refused to comment on the company’s technology, though.