Henry Tse (L) and Ajay Shah (R), cofounders of Cytovale.

Every year, over 1.7 million Americans will experience sepsis, which occurs when the immune system is unable to fight off an infection and instead begins an extreme response where it, in the words of Cytovale CEO Ajay Shah, starts “carpet bombing everything” and attacking the body’s own organs. But there hasn’t been a good way for doctors to quickly figure out what’s happening.

Shah’s company has developed the first rapid lab test for sepsis that’s been cleared by the FDA, called IntelliSep. The technology is already in place in six hospitals in two health systems, one of which has reported a reduction in sepsis mortality of over 30% after a year of incorporating the test into its practice. That’s a huge number, given that over 350,000 Americans who develop sepsis die every year, according to the CDC, making it the third leading cause of death in hospitals.

Today Cytovale announced that it has raised a $100 million series D investment round aimed at ramping up the commercialization of its technology. The round was led by Sands Capital and values the company at around $350 million.

The company’s technology aims to make diagnosis of sepsis as straightforward as it can be for other conditions. “If you walk into an emergency room with chest pain today,” Shah said, “there’s very clear protocols in place” to diagnose what’s going........

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