Business is going swimmingly well at SEAL Innovation these days.

With another $250,000 in funding and plans to open an office in Virginia, Raleigh-based SEAL Innovation is gearing up to sell its wearable SwimSafe devices that are designed to prevent drownings.

Justin Calvillo, the corporate finance and development officer, says the company has now raised some $2.3 million and is already looking at an institutional round. 

So far, angels and individuals are backing SEAL Innovation, including Triangle Angel Partners, Calvillo explains.

Of the backing so far, some 80 percent is from the Triangle and Raleigh, he adds.

And the company is hiring with plans to employ some 30 people in Raleigh.

“We feel good about where he are,” he says.

The company’s business development manager Dave Callahan also talked with WRALTechWire about the company’s progress after SEAL and The Launch Place announced that the Danville, Va.-based investment group was putting $250,000 into SEAL. As part of the investment, SEALwill open an office in Danville but the six-employee firm will remain based in Raleigh.

Founded by Dr. Graham Snyder, an emergency room physician at WakeMed, SEAL Innovation has developed wearable, wireless sensors packed in an attractive, stylish neck ban. These sensors monitor swimmers, from beginners to triathletes, and deliver data remotely to a device that can issue a warning if a swimmer is in trouble.

Starting at under $300, SwimSafe is scalable from use in a home pool to a public facility and can monitor up to 2,600 people, according to Callahan.

The devices are expected to go on sale later this year after another round of testing, he says.

Calling the device a “game changer” for the aquatics industry, Callahan says SEAL Innovation has secured “well over $2 million” from investors.

The Launch Place deal was announced early Thursday.

“We are excited to partner with The Launch Place and to invest in the Danville community,” said Cavallo in a statement.

Cavallo said the company plans to hire five people in Danville.

“In addition to The Launch Place’s $250,000 lead investment, its consulting services and partnerships in the Danville region will bring the talent we need to expand our capabilities and get our cutting-edge swim safety system to more people who need it.”

The team at SEAL wants to prevent child deaths from drowning accidents. To do this, it has developed technology that tracks swimmers while submerged in water.

Notes Callahan: “The technology is so sophisticated that it can be programmed for a beginning swimmer to a triathlete. We know how long swimmers should be safe under water” and if stress is detected, a warning is issued.

Several high-profile swimmers have already signed on to help promote SwimSafe.

The product, billed as the next level of aquatic safety, is a necklace that can detect potential drowning incidents, Snyder told WRALTechWire last summer.

At the time the firm was raising $2 million in a Series A round and had already raised 775,000 from angels and small venture groups.