On April 13, BioVentrix announced the completion of a US$48.5 million round of financing led by Andera Partners, alongside Cormorant Asset Management, Taglich Brothers Inc., Squarepoint Capital and Richmond Brothers, Inc. These funds serve to support the application for approval of the Revivent TC® system for patients suffering from ischemic heart failure and to finance initial preparations for the product’s commercial launch.

BioVentrix is a medical device company headquartered in Mansfield (Massachusetts, USA). Established over 20 years ago, Andera Partners is a leading player in unlisted investment in life sciences, in France and abroad. It is based in Paris and has operations in Antwerp, Munich and Milan.

Announced on April 13, the financing was led by Jeito, with Novo Holdings A/S and RA Capital Management, and the participation of BB Pureos Bioventures, Bpifrance via its InnoBio2 fund and Schroders Capital. This funding will finance the Phase I/II clinical development of Alentis’ two anti-Claudin-1 (CLDN1) drug candidates for fibrosis that affects vital organs such as the liver, and CLDN1-positive tumors, as well as the development of the CLDN1 platform to extend indications in oncology.

Founded in 2019, Alentis is a Franco-Swiss biopharmaceutical company and a spin-off from Inserm, based in Basel (Switzerland), the R&D center of which is located in Strasbourg. Jeito Capital is the first fully independent European private equity company specializing in healthcare and biopharmacy in Europe.

Founded in Berlin in 2018, Ariceum is developing a radiopharmaceutical drug, Satoreotide, antagonist of the somatostatin Type 2 (SST2) receptor. This receptor is overexpressed in many cancers, including certain neuroendocrine and other aggressive hard-to-treat cancers with poor prognoses, such as small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Ariceum aims to use Satoreotide as a “theranostic” for both the diagnosis and treatment of tumors expressing the SST2 receptor.

French management company Andera Partners, which specializes in private equity, led the financing round of €47.75 million alongside Earlybird Venture Capital, with the participation of the existing investor Pureos Bioventures. The financing, revealed on April 18, is expected to drive Ariceum’s clinical pipeline forward and continue with the development of Satoreotide.

Created in Lyon in 2020, this startup designs short interactive video modules developed with doctors (covering 60 programs at present). They have convinced more than 20,000 independent professionals. The €12 million raised on April 18 should enable the company to broaden its target audience to include personnel working in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, expand its content and recruit some 30 additional employees (to add to a current staff of 60 people). The financing round was led by MAIF Avenir and the Bpifrance Digital Venture fund, with the Serena and Makesense Racine2 fund, and Sofiouest from the Sipa group. “There are two million caregivers in France. Improving their training conditions is a public health issue as their businesses are becoming increasingly complex,” said Stanislas de Zutter, co-founder of Santé Académie.

Made public on April 20, this financing round brings together the company’s historical shareholders – Innovacom, Novinvest Partners and Breizh-up -with participation from Cemag Invest. These funds will give OSO-AI the means to fulfill the very strong demand from medical and social establishments for its ambient intelligence solution, which is capable of detecting critical situations among vulnerable patients and easing nursing staff’s workload. OSO-AI has, in fact, developed a technology that is unique in the world for analyzing sounds and noises. OSO-AI’s non-invasive augmented ear solution consists of a housing fitted with microphones and sensors linked to algorithms that analyze in real time all suspicious sounds and noises in elderly or disabled people’s environment. This housing is linked to an application for nursing staff, who can quickly identify suspicious or abnormal situations that require them to intervene. OSO-AI was created in 2018 in Brest, in the north-west of France.

The company, which was founded in 2001, announced on April 24 the success of its capital increase through the issuance of new ordinary shares with attached warrants with a waiver of preferential subscription rights, via a private placement for a final amount of €15 million.

These resources will be allocated to developing masitinib for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and developing the microtubule destabilizing agents (MDA) platform, with the clinical development of the molecule AB8939 in refractory acute myeloid leukemia and the initiation of regulatory preclinical development of a new oral molecule in the same microtubule class for sarcoma and solid tumors.

Founded in 2021, Qiti, the Nice-based startup specializing in health insurance, announced on April 24, 2023 the closing of a pre-seed financing round of €1.9 million. The fundraising was carried out through a capital increase extension in April 2023, with nearly 50% being dilutive.

Its unique, on-board, universal international health insurance is particularly aimed at neo-nomads, expatriates and frequent travelers, as it adjusts their coverage and benefits in real time at each border crossing.

This fundraising, made public on April 24, is expected to allow Qiti to target the corporate market and confirm its international ambition, accelerate the development of its AI technologies, boost commercial deployment and create new jobs.

Launched in 2017, the medtech company specializing in ophthalmology is developing a new class of implant to address the increasing need for long-term glaucoma treatment, with no adverse effects. This disease affects 80 million individuals each year around the world. The device developed by the company, the CID (or cilio-scleral inter-positioning device), is the first implant on the market that reduces intraocular pressure (IOP) without penetrating the anterior chamber of the eye, nor creating subconjunctival filtration. The funds will allow Ciliatech to continue CID’s development. The €3.5 million fundraising, announced on April 25, was carried out with its historical investors, BNP Paribas Développement, Kreaxi and Bernard Chauvin. This Series A consists of €1.75 million in capital and €1.75 million in bank loans.