Sensome raises a $9 million Series B round with equity investment from ASAHI INTECC
The
two companies start a new development program to integrate
Sensome’s tissue micro-sensor into Asahi’s world
class guidewire
PARIS, France - January 13th,
2020 – Sensome, the
company pioneering the connected medical device revolution with the world’s
smallest biological tissue sensor, announced today the successful completion of
a 9 million dollar financing round from its historical investors (Kurma
Partners, Idinvest Partners, BNP Paribas Développement, Paris-Saclay Seed Fund)
joined by Asahi Intecc Co., Ltd. from Japan, a world leader in guidewire
technology. The funds raised will serve to test the clinical performance of Sensome’s
first product Clotild®, a proprietary connected guidewire,
and get it ready for market. Sensome and Asahi also agreed to a two-year
development plan to design a new connected guidewire for the treatment of ischemic
stroke, combining Sensome’s proprietary micro-sensor and Asahi’s Chikai
guidewire.
Acute ischemic stroke, the leading cause of
long-term disability, can now be treated by removing the clot blocking the
brain blood vessel using mechanical thrombectomy devices. These devices are guided
from the groin over a wire. Sensome transforms these guidewires with its tissue
sensor to help physicians remove the clot on the first attempt, which is currently
achieved in only one out of three cases and greatly improves patient prognosis.
“The future of interventional therapies depends
on accessing the right information at the right time. We have developed the
technology to empower medical devices with the required connectivity and data,
be it in stroke or other medical fields”, said Franz Bozsak, CEO and co-founder
of Sensome, and added, ”The partnership with Asahi will demonstrate how
Sensome’s sensor technology can be integrated seamlessly into any
high-performance medical device.”
“The smart guidewire for stroke aims to gather and utilize significant data regarding clot, contributing to better treatment outcomes in intravascular acute ischemic stroke. An easy-to-use high-performance guidewire with onboard sensor will allow the physician to know more about the clot without significant disruption to the current procedure,” explained Masahiko Miyata, CEO of Asahi Intecc. “The combination of Sensome's sophisticated sensor technology and Asahi's guidewire technology is highly synergetic. Asahi is confident that this collaboration will yield a revolutionary smart guidewire with excellent mechanical performance and unique capability.”
About
Sensome
Sensome, a spin-off
from CNRS and Ecole polytechnique (France), developed a revolutionary sensor
technology that turns invasive medical devices into connected healthcare
devices. The company’s sensing technology combines impedance-based micro-sensors
with machine learning algorithms to instantly identify biological tissues upon
contact with an unequaled predictive reliability. Its first application is the
Clotild® connected guidewire for the treatment of ischemic stroke. Sensome's
sensor technology can be deployed in multiple other medical fields, such as
interventional cardiology and oncology.
About
ASAHI INTECC Co., Ltd.
Asahi Intecc is
recognized globally as a leading manufacturer and provider of guidewires and
catheters among other medical devices used by hospitals for cardiovascular and
neurovascular interventions in over 108 countries and regions across the globe,
with the CHIKAI guidewire and FUBUKI guiding catheter product families forming
the pillars of our neurovascular contribution. Asahi Intecc is a Tokyo Stock
Exchange First Section listed company.
www.asahi-intecc.co.jp/en/
About
Kurma Partners
Kurma Partners is a
key European player in the financing of innovation in healthcare, biotechnology
and digital diagnostics, notably through Kurma Biofund I and II, Kurma
Diagnostics and strategic partnerships with prestigious European research and
medical institutions.
About BNP Paribas Développement
BNP Paribas
Développement, a BNP Paribas Group subsidiary founded in 1988, invests its own
capital directly in promising small, medium-sized and mid-cap companies. As a
minority shareholder in these targeted companies, BNP Paribas Développement
seeks to promote their growth and ensure their longer-term prosperity by
facilitating ownership transfer. It manages a portfolio of 400 companies
including 50 startups.
www.bnpparibasdeveloppement.com
About
Paris-Saclay Seed Fund
Paris-Saclay Seed Fund was launched in 2016 as
a unique initiative to support the most promising startups emerging from the
leading research & innovation cluster Université Paris-Saclay. The Fund is
managed by two renowned venture capital firms: Partech, a global investment
firm specializing in digital and new technologies, and Kurma Partners, a
leading venture capital group in Life Sciences. This 50M€ fund invests in Seed
and Series A startups.
About
Idinvest Partners
Idinvest Partners is a leading European
mid-market private equity firm. With €8bn under management, the firm has
developed several areas of expertise including innovative startup venture
capital transactions; mid-market private debt, i.e. senior and subordinated
debt; primary and secondary investment and private equity advisory services.
Founded in 1997, Idinvest Partners used to belong to the Allianz Group until
2010, when it branched out as an independent firm. In January 2018, Idinvest
Partners became a subsidiary of Eurazeo, a leading global investment company,
with a diversified portfolio of €17.7bn in assets under management, including
nearly €11.6bn from investment partners, invested in nearly 400 companies.
For more information please
contact Franz Bozsak, press@sensome.com or +33 1 85 37 07 77 or +33 1 85 37
07 82