The Galway based medtech startup Venari Medical has raised €4.5 million in seed investment for the development of its device for treating chronic venous disease.
Venari, a spinout of NUI Galway’s BioInnovate Ireland fellowship programme, is developing a device to provide a less invasive treatment for CVD which can take place in the physician’s office.
The BioVena medtech device utilises a catheter system to effect “mechanical vein disruption” at a cellular level to treat the symptoms of CVD.
The €4.5 million funding was raised investment round was led by Nipro Corporation, a world-leading medical product manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan.
The Western Development Commission and Enterprise Ireland also contributed to the investment, in addition to international medical device experts and vascular surgeons.
“This seed investment accelerates a huge opportunity to improve the quality of life of sufferers of chronic venous disease across the globe,” said Venari CEO and co-founder Stephen Cox.
He added that he believes widespread adoption of the device as a treatment could result in “significant cost saving potential” for healthcare systems.
The money raised in this investment round will be used to enable the clinical validation of the BioVena device.
Toshiaki Masuda, Managing Director at Nipro Corporation said that the “high prevalence internationally” of CVD, and the impact it has on patients’ quality of life, makes it an area of great patient need.
“The Venari Medical team have impressed us greatly with this cutting-edge approach to venous disease treatment, from their novel pre-clinical research in vein biology, to collaborations with internationally recognised experts in venous disease treatment.”
Chronic venous disease occurs when venous wall and/or valves in the leg veins aren’t working properly, causing blood to pool in the legs when it should be returning to the heart.
This results in tiredness and swelling in the legs, and in advanced cases the development of venous leg ulcers.
CVD affects up to 30% of adults across the globe resulting in a significant deterioration in quality of life for sufferers.
Tomás Ó Síocháin, CEO of the Western Development Commission commented “This technology will improve the lives of a huge number of people, and that has been the primary focus of Stephen Cox and the team at Venari since the outset.
“Equally, however, this investment, underlines the importance of supporting innovation driven enterprises, building on the success of the existing medtech ecosystem in Ireland’s western region.”
Venari expects to create 20 new jobs in both senior management and technical, quality and regulatory roles over the next 3 years as a result of this investment.
image credit: Martina Regan
