DUBLIN and MUNICH – October 14, 2021 - OneProjects, developer of four-dimensional (4D) cardiac imaging technology, today announced a total of $17 million in new financing for the company, including an $8 million Series A2 financing and two grants worth $9 million.
The Series A2 financing was led by imec.xpand, with participation from The European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund and existing investors, including LSP and Atlantic Bridge Ventures. It is an extension to the company’s 2020 Series A1 funding that was led by LSP and co-led by Atlantic Bridge Ventures. The grants were awarded by the Irish government’s Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund ($6 million) and the EIC Accelerator ($3 million).
The company will use the new funds to complete product development, conduct clinical trials, gain FDA clearance and prepare for U.S. commercialization of the first product developed from its proprietary 4D cardiac imaging platform, VERAFEYE™. This technology is designed to improve the treatment of atrial fibrillation and other cardiac arrhythmias, and can also be applied to benefit structural heart procedures.
Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is characterized by an irregular heartbeat caused by chaotic electrical signals entering and overriding the natural heart rhythm, and affects more than 38 million people globally. It is one of the most frequent causes of strokes and other heart conditions. A principal treatment for AFib is catheter ablation to block unwanted signals. In up to 50 percent of cases, full ablation of the tissue is unsuccessful, requiring a large percentage of patients to undergo repeat procedures, often with a worsening condition that requires continued medical management.
The VERAFEYE™ imaging technology uses a proprietary catheter-based sensor combined with advanced imaging and machine learning to provide unprecedented live 360-degree, high-resolution imagery of the beating heart, as well as real-time tissue analysis to determine where tissue has been fully ablated. The goal is to enable physicians to optimize outcomes and safety during catheter ablation procedures in order to improve their success rate, which has the potential to reduce overall costs to the healthcare system.
“It’s no surprise that AFib success rates are sub-optimal given the complexity of the procedure and information currently available to physicians,” said OneProjects CEO Fionn Lahart. “Our 4D imaging platform improves upon currently available imaging by providing high precision navigation, procedural planning pre-ablation, and expansive real-time imagery of the heart and tissue during the procedure. We believe that our proprietary cardiac imaging technology can help physicians deliver precision therapy and has value beyond AFib to improve any cardiac procedure that can benefit from precise navigation, detailed 4D anatomical imaging and tissue assessment within the heart.”
He continued, “We are delighted to have the continued backing of our highly regarded existing investors, LSP and Atlantic Bridge, and to welcome our two new investors, Belgium-based imec.xpand and the European Innovation Council Fund. As a European company with offices in Dublin and Munich, we appreciate having exposure and access to these top-tier investors who will enable us to bring VERAFEYE™ to market and to develop the next generations of our platform technology. In addition to hitting key company milestones, we will use this funding to continue to build on the world-class team we have across Dublin and Munich.”
Frank Bulens, partner at imec.xpand, commented, “A wide range of therapeutic modalities are available today for the treatment of atrial fibrillation, with more to come. We made the investment in OneProjects as its superior VERAFEYETM imaging technology will serve all of these treatment options, a win for both the patient and the hospital. Accurate real-time imaging is also a prerequisite to allow part of this intervention to eventually become automated, which will be the next level of innovation.”
Laura González-Estéfani, member of the EIC Fund Investment Committee, added: “We are glad to back this cutting-edge technology aimed at improving the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias. The EIC Fund support will help OneProjects to bring its technology, VERAFEYETM, to the market, which we believe will increase procedural safety for patients and reduce cost to the healthcare system.”
In a separate announcement, OneProjects has added Steven Girouard as an independent board director. Steven is the former President and CEO of Securus Medical Group, which was acquired by Boston Scientific. He is a veteran of the medical device industry and has held executive management positions at Johnson & Johnson, Guidant Corporation, Cleveland Clinic, and Oakwood Medical Investors. He has extensive experience in early-stage research and development, preclinical and clinical research, business development, and venture capital.
ABOUT ONEPROJECTS
OneProjects is a privately held, venture-backed medical device company based in Dublin, Ireland and Munich, Germany. The company designs and develops an innovative 4D imaging platform for cardiac applications that operates at the intersection of hardware, software, and data science. Originating from Bioinnovate Ireland and spun out of Trinity College Dublin, OneProjects was founded by CEO Fionn Lahart and CTO Christoph Hennersperger in 2017. Learn more about OneProjects and VERAFEYE™ at www.one-projects.com.
ABOUT imec.xpand
Imec.xpand is an early stage and growth fund with a game-changing approach to turn hardware driven nanotechnology innovation into successful global companies. The fund is independently managed by a team of entrepreneurs, seasoned venture capitalists and business experts, and is targeting ambitious tech start-ups that meet all the criteria to become a successful, scalable ventures with the potential to change the world, and where imec knowledge, expertise and infrastructure can play a determining role in their success. For more information about imec.xpand, please visit www.imecxpand.com.
ABOUT EIC FUND
Established in June 2020, the European Innovation Council Fund (EIC Fund) is a breakthrough initiative of the European Commission to make direct equity and quasi-equity investments (between €500.000 and €15 million) in European high impact and deep tech start-ups and scale ups. With a long-term perspective, the EIC Fund invests in companies from any sector, across all EU member states as well as in associated countries.
The EIC Fund aims to fill a critical financing gap and its main purpose is to support companies in the development and commercialization of disruptive technologies. This is achieved by crowding-in market players and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding.
The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders, as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.