Sterifre Medical raises nearly $5 million for desktop sterilization device

Sterifre Medical, a company that has developed a desktop sterilization device that only uses room temperature plasma, has raised nearly $5 million in its present funding round, according to a recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The company has raised $4,827,500 toward its present $12 million goal, according to a Form D filed with the SEC this week. A year ago, the company reported in a Form D that it had raised about $1.3 million.

Sterifre Medical claims its desktop sterilization device, called Steri-lysis, eliminates all germs on treated cellphones within a 10-minute cleaning cycle. The device uses industrial-grade hydrogen peroxide, air and a power source, according to a Cornell University news release, making it safe for use on cellphones, baby bottles and much more.

“This is something that’s innately relevant to all of our lives. I could imagine having one of these sterilization devices throughout every hospital or any patient care facility for that matter for treating electronic devices and biomedical equipment at the end of every day,” Dr. Jason A. Spector, a professor of surgery and plastic surgery in otolaryngology at Weill Cornell Medicine and plastic surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said.

The device was tested on 51 cellphones of varying manufacturers and after being treated for five minutes, 93% of their bacteria was removed. When the devices were treated for 10 minutes, no new bacteria grew and the cellphones were bacteria-free.