Alesi Surgical raises €6m (£5.2m) to accelerate commercialisation of breakthrough product UltravisionTM
Alesi Surgical Limited, the leading innovator of minimally invasive surgery technologies – including the world-first Ultravision device - has successfully raised a further €6m (£5.2m) funding from both new and existing investors. The new investment comes from two leading med tech European venture capital firms, Panakes Partners and Earlybird, with continued support from Alesi Surgical’s existing shareholders, IP Group plc and Finance Wales Limited.

The funds raised will be used to drive commercial expansion of both Alesi Surgical and Ultravision into the United States and other key markets worldwide, and to undertake additional research and development around the new Ultravision technology.

Alesi Surgical also announces the appointment of three new directors, strengthening its board with key expertise to take the company and its products forward. Joining as non-executive director Phil Cooper previously President at Molnlycke Healthcare, is a recognised leader in global commercialisation and growth of privately owned companies in the med tech sector.

As part of the investment Mr Thom Rasche, Partner at Earlybird and previously Vice President Europe of Ethicon Endosurgery; and Mr Alessio Beverina, Founding Partner at Panakes Partners, will both join the board as investor directors.

Dr Dominic Griffiths, Managing Director of Alesi Surgical said: “Earlybird and Panakes are two highly respected European venture capital companies and in such a competitive funding environment their interest in Alesi and UltravisionTM speaks volumes for our potential. With the three new additions to the board we have expanded our expertise in this market and having four corporate investors places us in a strong position for future growth.”

The funds have been raised following the recent approval of the company’s leading proprietary technology platform, UltravisionTM, by both the US FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and Japanese Ministry of Health, and the commercial traction it is already gaining in already approved markets in Europe and the Middle East.

The UltravisionTM system is the world’s first use of electrostatic technology to clear the vapour and particulate matter – so called “surgical smoke” – that is generated by modern surgical cutting instruments during abdominal keyhole (laparoscopic) surgery.

The revolutionary medical device produces a low-energy electrostatic charge and can greatly improve visibility for surgeons by actively eliminating surgical smoke as it is created by the cutting instrument. Minimising healthcare professionals’ exposure to surgical smoke is increasingly important worldwide because of concerns over the health risks of long-term exposure.

The technology also benefits the patient as it minimises the amount of cold, dry carbon dioxide gas – used to create a working space inside the abdomen – that a patient is exposed to during the keyhole procedure. Excessive use of carbon dioxide contributes to cardiovascular problems, complications in anesthesia, post-surgical pain and longer recovery time for the patient.

Thom Rasche, Partner of Earlybird, said: “Obscuring of the surgical view during the laparoscopic procedure is not only cumbersome to surgeons but adds an additional risk to the safety of the procedure and to the staff being exposed to the smoke. Alesi has developed a fabulous, simple and very effective solution to help address these risks.”

Alessio Beverina said: “I am delighted to support the Alesi development. Its unique patented technology is a smart and simple solution for a real problem for laparoscopic surgeons and nurses in the operating room, both in standard and robotic operations. Whilst Alesi’s Research and Development product pipeline promises to be a game changer in the sector.”

Ends




Notes to editors:

For more information, contact James Barton at 2B Communications on 07955 227046 or james@2bcommunications.co.uk


1. Alesi Surgical develops and commercialises products that improve the safety, efficiency and outcomes of advanced surgical procedures.

2. The company was founded in 2009 as a spin-out from the Welsh Institute for Minimal Access Therapy (WIMAT), with the vision of becoming a world leader in surgical devices. Part of Cardiff University, WIMAT runs multi-disciplinary training courses across a range of surgical and medical specialties and is the busiest multi-disciplinary training centre in the United Kingdom.

3. For more information, visit www.alesi-surgical.com

4. Alesi Surgical is based at Cardiff Medicentre, the dedicated medical, healthcare, and life sciences business incubator located on the University Hospital of Wales campus. The latter is also home to Cardiff University's School of Medicine. Cardiff University is Wales’s leading Higher Education Institution for innovation, ranked 7th in the UK and 45th in Europe for innovation by Thomson Reuters.

5. Finance Wales was established by the Welsh Government in 2001 and provides commercial funding to small and medium-sized businesses throughout Wales to enable them to realise their potential for innovation and growth. The company is part of the Finance Wales Group and in 2015-16 the Group invested £63 million through 268 debt-equity investments in growing businesses. The Finance Wales Group, one of the UK’s largest SME investors, has in excess of £990 million of funds under management across all SME investment fund and the Help to Buy – Wales scheme. The Group has invested more than £484 million through more than 4,018 investments.

6. IP Group is a leading intellectual property commercialisation company which focuses on evolving great ideas, mainly from its partner universities, into world-changing businesses. The Group has pioneered a unique approach to developing these ideas and the resulting businesses by providing access to business building expertise, capital (through its 100%-owned FCA-authorised subsidiary IP Capital), networks, recruitment and business support. IP Group has a strong track record of success and its portfolio comprises holdings in approximately 100 early-stage to mature businesses across four main sectors -- Biotech, Cleantech, Healthcare and Technology. The Company is listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the code IPO.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com .

7. About Panakes Partners

Panakès Partners is a Venture Capital investor that finances medical companies, early stage startup and SMEs, with extremely promising products and great ambition, in Europe and Israel, improving both patient outcomes and healthcare economics. Investments focus on the medical device, diagnostics and healthcare IT fields. Panakès Partners is headquartered in Milan, Italy. www.panakes.it .

8. About Earlybird

Earlybird is a venture capital investor focused on European technology companies. Founded in 1997, Earlybird invests in all growth and development phases of a company. Amongst the most experienced venture investors in Europe, Earlybird offers its portfolio companies not only financial resources, but also strategic and operational support as well as access to an international network and capital markets. With over EUR 850 million under management, six IPOs and 22 trade sales, Earlybird is one of the most successful venture capital firms in Europe.

For further information: www.earlybird.com,
Twitter: www.twitter.com/EarlybirdVC,
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/earlybird-venture-capital
or Facebook: www.facebook.com/EarlybirdVC

Vivasure Medical Announces €16.2M ($18.3M) in Financing to Advance Commercialization of Closure Device in European Union and United States
Vivasure Medical™, a company developing a novel bioabsorbable technology for percutaneous vessel closure, today announced that the company has completed a Series C financing of €16.2M ($18.3M). The round was led by LSP (Life Sciences Partners) of The Netherlands, investing from its LSP Health Economics Fund, and co-led by Evonik Venture Capital (Germany), alongside Panakes Partners (Italy) with returning Series A and B investors led by Fountain Healthcare Partners, Ireland. The funding will support European commercialization of the company’s PerQseal™ technology to meet the growing demand for absorbable, percutaneous vessel closure products, as well as execution of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory study.

The Vivasure Closure Device is the first product from the company’s PerQseal™ technology platform, and is the only approved fully bioabsorbable, sutureless and entirely synthetic option to close large-bore arteriotomies that result from percutaneous transcatheter procedures, including transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair (EVAR). The device has been successfully evaluated in clinical studies, with patients treated in four European countries, achieving 97 percent device technical success with no major device related complications. Long-term follow-up data has been collected to 12 months post-procedure, and CE Mark was received in January 2016. The global market for large arteriotomy closure devices is growing rapidly and is expected to be more than $500 million by 2021.

“Patients with aortic valve stenosis, abdominal aortic aneurysms and other serious conditions are increasingly treated with minimally invasive percutaneous procedures,” said Gerard Brett, co-founder and CEO of Vivasure Medical. “The Vivasure closure device is designed to be easy to use, allowing the surgeon and interventional physician to provide a complete repair at the access site, without leaving metal implants, sutures, or exogenous tissue behind. Our goal is to facilitate improved therapeutic results for patients over the open-surgery alternative, faster recovery times, and cost savings for the healthcare system.”

“We are excited to support this innovative company and its vision of improving outcomes for patients as it moves into commercialization in the European Union and enters the United States,” said Anne Portwich, partner, LSP. “We look forward to working closely with Vivasure as the company continues to work toward gathering more data through clinical studies that will facilitate expansion of adoption in European markets and drive U.S. approval and commercialization of its first product.”

An arteriotomy is a puncture hole in a vessel in the groin that provides access to arteries for catheter-based procedures. The proprietary Vivasure closure device offers physicians an easy-to-use and fully percutaneous (through the skin) alternative to surgical cut-down and sutured repair via a 3- to 5- centimeter incision for large-bore arteriotomies.


About Vivasure Medical
Based in Galway, Ireland, Vivasure Medical has developed a patented bioabsorbable implant platform technology for applications in vessel closure. Its first product from this PerQseal platform features a bioabsorbable implant and percutaneous delivery system, designed to close large arteriotomies. For more information visit www.vivasuremedical.com.

About LSP
LSP (Life Sciences Partners) is an independent European investment firm, providing financing for private and public life sciences companies. LSP’s mission is to connect investors to inventors, focusing on unmet medical needs. Since the late 1980s, LSP’s management has invested in about 100 innovative enterprises, many of which have grown to become leaders of the global life sciences industry. With over €1 billion of investment capital raised to date and offices in Amsterdam, Munich and Boston, LSP is one of Europe’s leading life sciences investors. The LSP Health Economics Fund invests in innovative products that can increase the quality of health care, while reducing the cost of care. For more information, please visit: www.lspvc.com.

About Evonik VC
Evonik in the context of its venture capital activities wants to invest in total €100 million in promising start-ups with innovative technologies and in leading, specialized venture capital funds. Regional focuses on Europe, the United States and Asia. Currently, Evonik holds stakes in nine start-ups and four funds. More information is available at http://venturing.evonik.com/

About Panakes Partners
Panakès Partners is a Venture Capital investor that finances medical companies, early stage startup and SMEs, with extremely promising products and great ambition, in Europe and Israel, improving both patient outcomes and healthcare economics. Investments focus on the medical device, diagnostics and healthcare IT fields. Panakès Partners is headquartered in Milan, Italy. www.panakes.it.

About Fountain Healthcare Partners
Fountain Healthcare Partners fund is the largest dedicated life science venture capital fund in Ireland, with €176m under management. Exclusively focused on the life science sector, specific areas of interest to Fountain include specialty pharma, medical devices, biotechnology and diagnostics. The firm deploys the majority of its capital in Europe, with the balance in the United States. Fountain’s main office is in Dublin, Ireland, with a second office in New York. For more information, please visit www.fh-partners.com.

Media contact:
Nicole Osmer, +1 (650) 454-0504
nicole@nicoleosmer.com

Seventeen, a startup aiming to disrupt loco-regional therapies for solid tumors, raised a Series A for more than €4 million

Panakès Partners and Innogest invested in interventional oncology

Panakès Partners and Innogest led a €4.2 million financing round in Seventeen, an innovative startup based in Naples (Italy), which operates in the interventional oncology medtech sector.

Seventeen has developed an innovative approach to ensure loco-regional treatment of some non resectable solid tumors or tumors with high post-surgical local recurrence incidence. This technology allows to ablate or destroy the tumor mass through the intratumoral injection of biocompatible glue loaded with radioactive particles able to maximize the radiotherapeutic effect by reducing at the same time the side effects.

Professor Francesco Izzo, researcher, surgeon at Istituto Pascale, Medical Director of the Complex Structure of Abdominal Oncology Surgery unit with Hepatobiliary specialization at Cancer Institute of Naples and Principal Investigator of the new methodology, has already led experimentations aimed at obtaining the CE mark. With the new funding the company will further finalize the development and the clinical validation phase.

The entrance of the two Venture Capitalists allows Prof. Izzo to be supported by a team with extensive international experience in the field of oncology and clinical research: Massimo Romanelli (former Oncology Division, product manager for AngioDynamics in Italy) will be the COO of the company, while Lucio Fumi (former Director, Interventional Oncology BTG and Terumo) will be Chairman. Laura Iris Ferro (founder and former Ceo of Gentium) will join the company as independent director.

«The interventional oncology segment is one of the main targets of our fund; we are proud to have invested in an ambitious and promising project such as Seventeen», said Diana Saraceni, co-founder and General Partner at Panakès. «The company will shortly bring to the market a medical instrument dedicated to the treatment of some solid tumors otherwise inoperable or ones with high incidence of local recurrences. Seventeen, although only in its startup phase, has already received interest from some of the very acquisitive sector companies in the field. Moreover, beyond the indisputable financial interest of the transaction, there is also an ethical aspect that has further motivated us».

«We are excited to invest in Seventeen, a startup of a great potential. The company has developed a technology that could offer a solution for patients with certain types of cancers for which there are no effective therapeutic options today», said Claudio Rumazza, Partner at Innogest. «We are impressed by the preclinical results obtained so far and we believe that the pool of talents already involved in the project, along with additional resources that the company will be able to attract with our support, place Seventeen in an optiman position to disrupt cancer treatment through loco-regional radiotherapy».

«A new phase starts for Seventeen. With our main product close to the CE mark certification, additional resources and expertise will be needed to bring the product to market», said Prof. Francesco Izzo. «With this operation I am confident to have helped the company to adopt all the necessary tools to ensure success, I hope to see the product on the market soon, since the developed methodology allows us to treat a large number of patients, currently without therapeutic options».

Panakès Partners (www.panakes.it, contact@panakes.it)
Panakès Partners is a Venture Capital investor that finances medical companies, early stage startups and SMEs, with extremely promising products and great ambition, in Europe and Israel, improving both patient outcomes and healthcare economics. Investments focus on the medical device, diagnostics and healthcare IT fields. Panakès Partners is headquartered in Milan, Italy.

Innogest (www.innogest.it, press@innogest.it)
Innogest is a Venture Capital firm founded in 2005 with offices in Turin, Milan and San Francisco. With 180€ million of capital under management, Innogest focuses on promising seed and early stage ventures developing medical devices, diagnostics and digital health and is particularly active in oncology, cardiology and neurology.

Echolight: from the South of Italy the first investment of Panakes Partners and the fifth investment of Invitalia Ventures.

A 4M € Series A round in Echolight, the startup that revolutionize the diagnosis of osteoporosis

Panakès and Invitalia Ventures have co-led an investment round of 4 €/ML in Echolight, an innovative SME operating in the “medtech” sector, that has been established in 2010 as a Spin-off of the CNR of Lecce

Echolight has developed EchoS, the first non-invasive technology for early diagnosis of osteoporosis disease. This technology may exceed the existing gold standard, currently represented by the X-Ray diagnosis. The EchoS device has been patented at national and international level and received the ISO and EC mark certification.

EchoS offers different advantages since it is capable to combine the advantages of the two current main technologies, DXA and QUS: it is radiation free, it can assess the bone quality, it is low cost and it does not require any certified operator and axial sites (spine and hip) assessment. It also offers an extremely user-friendly software that allows doctors to conduct diagnosis in a few minutes and improve clinical assessments.

The founding team of Echolight, which is composed of Sergio Casciaro, Matteo Pernisa, Stefano Pernisa, Ernesto Casciaro and Francesco Conversano has an extensive experience in the ultrasound bone densitometry.

Previously Echolight has already received a Seed investment from Life Sciences Capital S.p.A, a venture capital investment vehicle established in 2005 with the aim to invest in the Italian health sector with a focus on the medical technologies.

“The new funds available will allow the diffusion of our technology and the establishment of EchoS as a new reference for people affected by the osteoporosis disease, who will have an easy access to the diagnosis, now available also at primary care, and to the treatment of this “silent” disease that remains hugely under-diagnosed. We will support in this way the prevention and reduction of the invalidating bone fracture events, with significant cost savings for the health care system and important improvements in the care delivery and patient quality of life” enthusiastically commented the president and co-founder of Echolight, Sergio Casciaro.

Fabrizio Landi, founder and General Partner at Panakes, declared: “Echolight has developed a next generation ultrasound echo-based bone densitometer that makes early detection and more accurate monitoring of osteoporosis, directly on the more important points, spine and hip. The non-invasiveness may be the key advantage to spread the diagnostics earlier, as it was the case for echography in the past as a replacement of x-ray in other applications.”

“We are proud to invest in Echolight together with Panakès, because it is a startup of unquestionable value. The technology for the diagnosis of osteoporosis - the disease that affects more than 300 million of people worldwide – will have a huge impact through its accessibility, disease prevention and earlier diagnosis, with the reduction of the waiting list (that today can be up to 1,5 year in Italy) and a cost reduction to around two third.

These advantages will then offer a strong contribution to the healthcare system sustainability” stated Salvo Mizzi, CEO Invitalia Ventures.

About Echolight
Echolight is a high-tech research biomed company, incorporated in Italy, for the development of innovative technologies in the medical diagnostics arena. Our mission is to provide the world medical community with the very first comprehensive non-invasive and office-based solution for the early diagnosis of osteoporosis. Echolight will make the early detection of Osteoporosis more accurate and easily accessible to meet both clinician’s and patient’s needs everywhere. Echolight is in compliance with the standard: UNI CEI EN ISO 13485:2012; ISO 13485:2003; CE Mark medical Device Class IIa.

www.echolight.it

About Panakès Partners
Panakès Partners invests is a Venture Capital investor that finances medical companies, early stage startup and SMEs, with extremely promising products and great ambition, in Europe and Israel, improving both patient outcomes and healthcare economics. Investments focus on the medical device, diagnostics and healthcare IT fields. Panakès Partners is headquartered in Milan, Italy.

www.panakes.it
Contact: contact@panakes.it

About Invitalia Ventures
Invitalia Ventures manages Italia Venture I Fund with the aim to bring support to the Italian Venture Industry. The co-investment strategy of the Fund is focused on round A investments in the best Italian innovative Startups/SMEs together with national and international private investors.

www.invitaliaventures.it
Contact: info@invitaliaventures.it

Barbara Castellano brings a significant 20-yearsexperience in Medtech, in particular in Cardiovascular, having held corporate senior positions at Sorin (now Livanova) and CID Cardiovascular (now Alvimedica). By leading strategic marketing, business development, clinical, quality and regulatory departments, she developed and brought innovative cardiovascular technologies in the market. Furthermore, in the last year, as CEO of an advisory firm, she has developed a strong experience inthe medtech startup world, successfully raising over €15m venture capital funding for European and Israeli innovative medical technologies.
"We are proud to have Barbara joining our team, strengthening our expertise in the medtech sector" commented Fabrizio Landi,.Panakès Managing Partner"Both our startup investee companies and our investors will benefit from her outstanding professional and personal qualities".
Barbara Castellano stated: “I am extremely excited to joinPanakès Partners. The medtech world is changing fast, with new trends and a lot of innovation coming through to solve unmet needs. We will support startups with great technologies, helping them growing and demonstrating their value in the market.”
Panakès Partners, founded by Alessio Beverina, FabrizioLandi and Diana Saraceni, announced the first closing of the fund few weeks ago.

At the end of 2015, Panakès Partners SGR SpA has obtained the required authorization by the competent authorities and has launched its first Fund, Panakès FundI. Investors in the Fund comprise a unique blend of major Italian and International investors: corporate and private investors in the sector (Menarini, Cogliati – Elemaster, Colombo – SapioLife, Rovati - RottaPharmBiotech) as well as leading financial institutions such as European Investment Fund and Fondo Italiano d’Investimento. Panakès I is the first Italian EU Venture Capital Fund (EUVECA). After its second closing in January, Panakèstargets a new closing in March.
The Venture firm will finance highly innovative companies in the Medtech sector, innovating in particular in therapeutic medical devices, diagnostic devices and kits and healthcare IT companies. Panakès will focus primarily on startup and commercial stage companies, with extremely promising products and great ambition, providing capital towards clinical demonstration and revenues growth. Panakès focuses on companies addressing unmet clinical needs, with strong intellectual property, at prototype level (or even CE marked products) run by experienced management teams.
"Panakès is focused on funding companies with innovation that can be quantified in terms of both improvements in patient outcomes as well as healthcare economics. Italy and Europe represent the best ground for these opportunities, that can deliver also excellent financial returns," commented Panakès Managing Partner, FabrizioLandi. "We are excited to launch our fund, and appreciate the support of all our institutional and corporate investors for our strategy and team." Pier Luigi Gilibert, Chief Executive EIF, stated: “Medtech is an area where innovation can deliver real results and we are proud to be investing in the research and development of new devices for this sector, where Europe has a strong competitive advantage compared to other geographies. The EU has a role to play in supporting this growing market and our commitment in Panakès is an example of how together we can invest in companies which will target healthcare solutions. We are confident that the team at Panakès and its focused strategy, will create new opportunities in the Medtech arena.”
"I am particularly satisfied with the result of fund raising reached by Panakés Fund , whose idea was born in the offices of the Italian Fund" said Gabriele Cappellini , CEO of the Fondo Italiano degli Investimenti SGR . "The investment in Panakés Fund by FII" continued Cappellini ,"is part of our strategy to support the creation of a sustainable venture capital market, through the subscription of funds managed by independent teams with sector-specific expertise and high professionalism. In light of this and the experience of its founders we trust that Panakés can be an operator of reference for the support to the best start-ups operating in the medtech sector".
Panakès partners was founded by Alessio Beverina, Fabrizio Landi and Diana Saraceni in 2015. The investment team combines a high level of successful venture capital experience, appropriate scientific andmedical competence and significant operational and investment experience in the Medical Technologies sector. Alessio Beverina was Partner at Sofinnova Partners, one of the leading Venture Capital in the Life Sciences sector; Fabrizio Landi was the founder and CEO of Esaote, which became a leader in the diagnostic space; Diana Saraceniwas founder and Partner in charge of the Life Sciences investments at 360 Capital Partners, the leading Italian Venture Capital firm.
The Panakès team also comprises a very complementary and internationally recognized Advisory Board, with successful Italian entrepreneurs and experts in the Life Sciences area: Laura Iris Ferro, founder and ex CEO of Gentium, Giuseppe Prisco, former MP of Intuitive surgical, Lorenzo Tallarigo, former COO Eli Lilly, and early stage Investor and board member of Intercept, Emanuele Gatti, former CEO EMEA Fresenius Care, Gabriele Cogliati, CEO of Elemaster, Antonello Biscini, VP business development of Menarini Diagnostics and Maurizio Colombo, CEO of SapioLife.
Panakès derives from the greek Panakeia, who was the goddess of Universal remedy, said to have a potion with which she healed the sick.