Paris, France, July 18, 2019 – T-Heart, a privately-owned medtech company developing a truly novel and differentiated transcatheter tricuspid prosthetic heart valve that is specifically designed for tricuspid heart valve regurgitation, today announced it has closed a Series A round of financing, raising €8 million from iBionext.
The company was created in December 2018 within the company builder iBionext in Paris, France and co-founded with Soad El Ghazouani, CEO and Dr. Alain Dibie, interventional cardiologist, CSO and inventor of the design.
Soad El Ghazouani brings over 25 years of global experience in the medical device industry with extensive knowledge of the pan-European and North American markets. Previously, Soad held several senior management positions in various medtech companies ranging from start-ups to multinational corporations such as Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Meadox and Hitachi.
As part of the financing, iBionext founding CEO and Managing Partner Alexia Perouse becomes Chairman of the company.
Tricuspid regurgitation is a progressive condition in which blood leaks backward through the tricuspid valve, potentially leading to heart failure and death. The transcatheter tricuspid market represents a $3.0+ billion potential opportunity with very limited treatment options available. T-Heart’s unique design will enable the interventional cardiologist to replace the diseased tricuspid valve with a simple one-step technique and is broadly applicable to a larger patient population with minimal device sizes.
The funds will allow the company to execute its development plan and reach the following value creating milestones:
- The production of a functional prototype and positive preliminary pre-clinical report
- Optimized final design of the tricuspid heart valve and preclinical report of chronic animal implantations with over 3 months follow up
Soad El Ghazouani, CEO of T-Heart said, “With the closing of our Series A financing round, T-Heart is well-positioned to execute its ambitious development plan to bring a solution to patients suffering from tricuspid regurgitation and improve their quality of life. We are fortunate to be part of the iBionext ecosystem, which allows our team to focus on our core R&D activities and optimize our processes”
Alexia Perouse, CEO and Managing Partner at iBionext said, “At iBionext, we were immediately convinced by Dr. Dibie’s design to revolutionize the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation in a single, minimally invasive step. We are confident in the exceptional founding team of T-Heart and are committed to supporting them every step of the way to bring this breakthrough innovation to market “
Contacts
T-HEART
Soad El Ghazouani +33 (0) 1 85 73 27 05
IBIONEXT
Alexia Perouse
ABOUT T-HEART
T-Heart is a French medical device company focused on the treatment of Tricuspid Regurgitation, a true medical unmet need. Tricuspid regurgitation is a progressive condition in which blood leaks backward through the tricuspid valve, potentially leading to heart failure and death. The transcatheter tricuspid market represents a $3.0+ billion potential opportunity, although currently, limited treatment options exist to address this market.
T-Heart has developed a truly novel and differentiated transcatheter tricuspid prosthetic heart valve that is specifically designed for tricuspid heart valve regurgitation, thereby addressing the specific anatomical challenges. In addition, T-Heart’s unique design enables the interventional cardiologist to replace the diseased tricuspid valve with a simple one-step technique and allows for broad applicability to a larger patient population with minimal device sizes.
For more information: www.theartvalve.com
ABOUT IBIONEXT
iBionext is a venture capital firm that supports and finances the development of companies with a strong technological breakthrough in HealthTech. Launched as a network of start-ups in 2012, iBionext is the first French company builder and investment fund to operationally cover the entire value chain of its investments, from creation to growth. All iBionext companies are grouped on a single site, in the “Passage de l’Innovation”, Paris, France. Since its creation, the iBionext network has enabled the creation of 9 companies – Pixium Vision (Euronext: ALPIX), GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT), Tissium, Prophesee, ChronoLife, BrainEver, Tilak Healthcare, BrainEver, GrAI Matter Labs and T-Heart, which have raised over €600M. More than 18 clinical trials were completed, are underway or completed worldwide and 400+ employees specializing in cutting-edge sectors have joined these companies.
For more information: www.ibionext.com