CHF 40,000 for startups developing a computer vision guided robotic endoscope, an alternative to blood donor platelet transfusions, and innovative spinal care
29.04.2021
aiEndoscopic, HemostOD, and InnoSpina win Venture Kick's second stage of financial and entrepreneurial support. Their projects help emergency physicians or paramedics to intubate better on an irregular basis and in stressful situations, provide stem cell-derived, ex vivo platelets as a standardized alternative to blood donor platelet transfusions, and advance minimally invasive (MIS) and motion-preserving technologies for disorders of the spine.
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 aiEndoscopic: CEO Philippe Ganz, CTO David Gage and, Prof. Peter Biro, Head of Medical Advisory Board
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 HemostOD's CEO Faouzi Khechana
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 InnoSpina: from left to right, CFO Nicole Beuchat, CEO Gwenael Hannema, and Chief Medical Officer Dr. med Jacques Samani
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aiEndoscopic: Intelligent Medical Devices
HemostOD: Standardized alternative to blood donor platelet transfusions
Platelet transfusion, whose source is currently only blood donation, is a life-saving product for patients with low platelet counts but it has many drawbacks: it is a non-standardized product, with the threat of bacterial/viral contamination and facing recurrent shortage issues and costly complications of immune refractoriness. The four co-founders CEO Faouzi Khechana, Head of engineering Elodie Dahan, COO Sophie Claudel, Scientific Director Dominique Baruch, along with Advisory Board Member Laurent Massuyeau work together on HemostOD's project with the ambition to develop donor-free, stem cell-derived, ex vivo platelets as a standardized alternative to blood donor platelet transfusions. HemostOD has shown the fabrication of ex vivo platelets in flow with an improved yield and process efficacy compared to competitors and confirmed its platelets functionality through preliminary preclinical test and characterization. The company is now focusing on the scale-up of the technology and on the acquisition of its proprietary cell line. The Venture Kick fund will be used for market access study. hemostod.com
InnoSpina: Spine surgery, simplified.
Lower back pain is an extremely common health problem and a leading cause of activity limitation. One common condition is Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (LSS) and is the most frequent and fastest-growing reason for spinal surgery in patient older than 65. Current solutions are either too expensive or invasive and often require general anesthesia with a long recovery time or involve high surgical risks. InnoSpina’s team – Chief Medical Officer Dr. med Jacques Samani, CEO Gwenael Hannema graduated from mechanical Engineering at EPFL, and CFO Nicole Beuchat – are advancing minimally invasive surgery (MIS) with fusion and motion-preserving technologies for the disorder of the spine. They developed and preclinically validated a first implant combined with a simplified, safe, and fast implantation procedure enabling up to a 5x speedup compared to the current golden standards. Their intuitive guiding instruments will empower surgeons and permit ambulatory treatment options giving patients access to the care they need. Supported by an Innosuisse project InnoSpina will bring the next generation implant on the market, answering a large unmet medical need and pursuing their vision to make spinal treatments safe, fast, and accessible.
The Venture Kick funds will be used in new marketing material, enabling to meet and gain traction by other spine KOLs. innospina.com
Tracheal Intubation [TI] is the medical process in which the clinician inserts an elastic tracheal tube into the patient's windpipe to ensure the lungs' oxygenation. TI is the 3rd most frequent clinical process and is performed more than 50M times annually. Human anatomy is designed such that no solid body can enter our respiratory system, resulting in difficulties in placing the tracheal tube fast and correctly. In the Emergency Medical Service [EMS], up to 13% of Intubations require more than four attempts or take longer than 10 minutes. Those difficult cases can lead to permanent brain damage and even death.
The co-founders Philippe Ganz, Dave Gage, and Prof. Peter Biro work on solving this problem following the idea: "In the age of self-driving cars, why is there no self-driving intubation device?". Their solution is REALITI - an assistive device for easier and safer tracheal intubations. REALITI is a computer vision guided robotic endoscope that detects the trachea and automatically deflects the tip towards the windpipe. It will be the first device that actively assists the user, making TI independent, similar to the automated external defibrillator (AED). REALITI supports the EMS, where paramedics or emergency physicians need to intubate infrequently and in stressful environments. It also helps intubations in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and Emergency Departments (ED), freeing these departments from the bottleneck of anesthesia. Lastly, REALITI optimizes the operation room workflow to make TI more predictable and, therefore, save waiting times and costs.
aiEndoscopic will use the Venture Kick grant to continue its market analysis and to expand its team. aiendoscopic.com
HemostOD: Standardized alternative to blood donor platelet transfusions
Platelet transfusion, whose source is currently only blood donation, is a life-saving product for patients with low platelet counts but it has many drawbacks: it is a non-standardized product, with the threat of bacterial/viral contamination and facing recurrent shortage issues and costly complications of immune refractoriness. The four co-founders CEO Faouzi Khechana, Head of engineering Elodie Dahan, COO Sophie Claudel, Scientific Director Dominique Baruch, along with Advisory Board Member Laurent Massuyeau work together on HemostOD's project with the ambition to develop donor-free, stem cell-derived, ex vivo platelets as a standardized alternative to blood donor platelet transfusions. HemostOD has shown the fabrication of ex vivo platelets in flow with an improved yield and process efficacy compared to competitors and confirmed its platelets functionality through preliminary preclinical test and characterization. The company is now focusing on the scale-up of the technology and on the acquisition of its proprietary cell line. The Venture Kick fund will be used for market access study. hemostod.com
InnoSpina: Spine surgery, simplified.
Lower back pain is an extremely common health problem and a leading cause of activity limitation. One common condition is Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (LSS) and is the most frequent and fastest-growing reason for spinal surgery in patient older than 65. Current solutions are either too expensive or invasive and often require general anesthesia with a long recovery time or involve high surgical risks. InnoSpina’s team – Chief Medical Officer Dr. med Jacques Samani, CEO Gwenael Hannema graduated from mechanical Engineering at EPFL, and CFO Nicole Beuchat – are advancing minimally invasive surgery (MIS) with fusion and motion-preserving technologies for the disorder of the spine. They developed and preclinically validated a first implant combined with a simplified, safe, and fast implantation procedure enabling up to a 5x speedup compared to the current golden standards. Their intuitive guiding instruments will empower surgeons and permit ambulatory treatment options giving patients access to the care they need. Supported by an Innosuisse project InnoSpina will bring the next generation implant on the market, answering a large unmet medical need and pursuing their vision to make spinal treatments safe, fast, and accessible.
The Venture Kick funds will be used in new marketing material, enabling to meet and gain traction by other spine KOLs. innospina.com