The deal marks a substantial milestone for seven-year-old Afferent... It also proves, according to them, that the rest of the country is watching the research being done in Rhode Island.

Given the makeup of Afferent’s management team, Horan added, he is confident their growth will not lead them to leave the state, as has happened with other life-science firms founded here. Over the last several years, two Rhode Island-based medical technology companies that had received financing from the Slater Fund, Cyberkinetics Inc and Spherics Inc., left for Massachusetts.