MedTech Investing Europe Forum returns to virtually connect global investors with healthcare, life sciences and biotech ventures

Early-stage solutions for strokes, varicose veins, surgical 3D imaging, wounds, skincare and genomic screenings are among the breakthroughs to be showcased for ambitious investors at the virtual MedTech Investing Europe Forum on 13-14 October.

Campden Wealth has built on the success of its debut virtual forum in 2020 and its return to in-person forums in Switzerland last September with a dedicated bigger and better global virtual forum this October.

Pitches from dynamic “game-changing” venture-stage companies remain the core of the virtual event. In addition, both days will start and finish with a session giving unrivalled insight into the global healthcare investment sector.

Dr Benoit Dubuis (pictured right), the executive director of Campus Biotech and the president of the world-renowned Inartis Foundation, returns to chair the virtual forum.

Among the companies confirmed to present at Medtech Investing Europe Forum—Global Virtual Event is EMTensor, the leader in developing electromagnetic tomography (microwave) imaging devices—the safest and smallest of all tomographic modalities.

Based in Vienna and California, EMTensor is owned by its founders and backed by venture capitalists. To date, $20 million of private and public funds have been invested. Governmental agencies from the United States, Switzerland and Austria have financially supported development of the technology for years.

Dr Stephen Pearce (pictured left), chief executive of EMTensor, said one-in-four adults will suffer a stroke.

“Stroke globally affects 17 million people per year and is the leading cause of disability and second leading cause of death,” Pearce said.

“Recent advances have dramatically increased treatment success, but before treatment can be applied a confirmatory image must be acquired to separate the two kinds of stroke, hemorrhagic or ischemic. Applying a clot busting drug to a hemorrhagic patient can lead to rapid deterioration or death.

“EMTensor’s brain scanner service addresses the colossal unmet need to determine stroke type much earlier in the patient experience. Silicon Valley based EMTensor is looking to meet investors and strategic partners to raise $5-15 million and get on with solving this critical issue.”

I-VASC was founded in 2015 with the goal of introducing its patented medical device for minimally invasive treatment of varicose veins to the global market.

The Milan-based company has developed the VELEX, a device which can safely and effectively treat the most serious forms of varicose veins. The condition is one of the most frequent chronic diseases that affects more than half of the adult population overall, while severe cases concern about 20% of these patients, I-VASC said.

Daniele Zanotti (pictured right), chief executive of I-VASC, said severe varicosities were not just an aesthetic problem, they can devastate quality-of-life and lead to serious, life-threatening consequences, such as ulcers, thromboses and even pulmonary embolism.

“I-VASC has the ambition to become the ‘game changer’ of the varicose veins market segment by making VELEX its ‘gold-standard’ therapy,” Zanotti said.

“I-VASC has received ISO 13485:2016 certification while VELEX is CE marked, so we are now ready to address this huge and largely unmet need in cardiovascular medicine.

“I-VASC is participating in MedTech Investing Europe Forum in order to raise the funds required to finance its global market access, which include the execution of international post-market trials, full industrialisation and manufacturing scale-up, and FDA approval in the US.”

MediView, an Ohio-based medical device startup, said it has created “game-changing clinical solutions” to simplify surgical procedures with augmented reality and artificial intelligence.

Mina Fahim (pictured below left), chief executive and president of MediView, said for the first time in history, clinicians now have “superhuman x-ray vision” to see anatomy and surgical instruments under the skin in real-time 3D visualisation.

“Practitioners are no longer limited by the physical constraints of traditional 2D screens which draw their attention from the patient on the table, but now can intuitively understand the relationship between anatomy and instrument to best deliver care,” Fahim said.

MediView has a differentiated platform which integrates multiple medical imaging modalities to combine 2D and 3D imaging in a way which has never been possible before, he said.

“With the partnership and help of MedTech Investing Europe Forum, MediView will expand commercialisation and development efforts of our currently available product. We will also pursue additional regulatory clearances which will add clinically valuable features such as predictive analytics informing therapy delivery to reduce the risk of complications and the need for redo procedures.”

Plasmacure said it envisions a world where people will not suffer from chronic wounds any longer.

Bas Zeper (pictured right), founder and chief executive of Plasmacure, said the Dutch company has developed a new treatment method for chronic wounds, called PLASOMA, using cold plasma technology.

Zeper said the patented innovation holds the CE mark and was on the market now.

“We are so proud that the PLASOMA treatment shows such good clinical results as 60% of the wounds closed in 6-8 weeks,” he said.

“During MedTech Investing Europe, we are looking for €3 million ($3.5 million) to match European EIC funding, this will complete a total funding round of €10 million ($11.6 million.”

S-Biomedic leads the field of skin microbiome research and commercialisation. The microbiome is a new frontier in dermatology and skincare and brings solutions to people suffering from disorders such as acne, eczema or skin cancer prevention, the Belgium company said.

In 2016, the team successfully conducted the first skin microbiome transplantation analogous to the famous gut microbiome transplantation (Paetzold_et_al-2019-Microbiome).

Today, S-Biomedic’s clinically validated technology platform provides solutions for people with acne and premature ageing. Their first products containing LiveSkin Probiotics was expected to enter the market this year.

“The MedTech Investing Europe Forum is an excellent opportunity for us to meet fitting partners who can help us accelerate S-Biomedic,” Veronika Oudova (pictured left), co-founder and chief executive of S-Biomedic, said.

“We are scaling up our R&D pipeline with four new programmes and are growing our commercial activities. For that, we are inviting new investors to join our Series B financing round.”

Veritas Intercontinental was founded in 2018 to lead the expansion of the Veritas’ brand and genetic services in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Japan. In 2020, Veritas Intercontinental opened its laboratory in Europe and now offers a complete portfolio including the myGenome service, exome based genetic testing and genetic services for maternal-foetal medicine.

“We founded Veritas Intercontinental to provide the world´s most comprehensive and actionable genomic screening service,” Javier Echevarria (pictured), chief executive of Veritas, said.

“Our unique proprietary technology platform enables us to provide useful information for everyone in a fully automated and scalable way,” Echevarria said.

“With our product portfolio covering all human life stages—from prenatal, new-borns, to healthy individuals, to diagnostic—we want to serve our society throughout people´s lifespan.

Echevarria said participating in the virtual MedTech Investing Europe Forum, “allows us to meet investors and other MedTech entrepreneurs. We are committed to bringing our technology to the whole world, willing to democratise precision medicine by changing the way people's health care is approached. MedTech Investing Forum is a great opportunity for us to showcase our technology and the growth opportunities ahead of us.”

‘Energising’ forum

Almost 120 people gathered in Lausanne, Switzerland for the eagerly-awaited 31st MedTech Investing Europe Forum on 21-22 September, Campden Wealth’s first in-person meeting on the continent in two years.

Mounira Ruma, the commercial and investment partnership manager at Campden Wealth, said the in-person forum was “energising”.

“The contributions from the speakers, panellists were most insightful and definitely encouraging as to the innumerable investment opportunities in the space, provided the partners are honest as to their long-term intentions and well matched in as far as the treatment areas, selecting people and innovations that speaks to them and want to share history with.”

Ruma said Campden Wealth was grateful to the sponsors, investors and company presenters who travelled to the forum from a dozen of countries. Travel could still be restrictive, so Campden Wealth decided to organise MedTech virtually again as an opportunity to gather its global community from the comfort of their homes and offices.

“The virtual programme is different, as are some of the companies raising capital,” Ruma said.

“Make sure to join us if you have not yet signed up.”

For more information and to register, visit medtechinvesting-virtual.com and email Mounira Ruma via mouniraruma@campdenwealth.com.