Medical technology acceleration fund Sofinnova MD Start III, a project of European venture capital firm Sofinnova Partners, has invested $5 million in Israeli medical technology company Endoron Medical in a seed round to speed up the development of Endoron's technology for repairing abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA), according to a statement from the fund on Wednesday.
Endoron was founded in 2019 by former CEO of Bendit Technologies Ronit Harpaz, vascular surgeon Prof. Ron Karmeli of Hadassah University Hospital and veteran mechanical engineer Eyal Teichman. The company's EndoStapling catheter based technology for repairing AAAs was invented by Karmeli.
The technology aims to improve minimally-invasive surgery in lieu of risky open surgery for the potentially life-threatening condition, which is still widely employed to treat AAAs.
Endoron's solution is used to hold in place endografts - surgical grafts used in repairing such swelling of the aorta, the main blood vessel that supplies blood to the abdomen, pelvis, and legs - to provide a better seal, as well as to staple and repair grafts that have moved or developed leaks.
The $5m investment is Sofinnova MD Start's first in an Israeli company. Describing itself as "the only MedTech accelerator in Europe," Sofinnova is bringing experienced medical technology entrepreneurs in an effort to accelerate the development of Endoron's novel technology.
Harpaz praised Sofinnova's acceleration fund support and expertise, saying: "The Sofinnova MD Start team are the go-to investors in the medtech domain and are also seasoned medtech entrepreneurs who bring a wealth of operational experience working in high-growth companies like ours. With their support, I am confident we will quickly reach key clinical and regulatory inflection points as we work to bring our EndoStapling technology to the clinic."