Leiden-based VitroScan, a biotech company, announced that it has received €1.9M from Biotech Booster to deliver chemotherapy response prediction for ovarian cancer patients.

Biotech Booster’s funding will help the Dutch company to use its knowledge and research, along with partnerships with ovarian cancer experts from Leiden University Medical Centre and Radboud University Medical Centre.

This funding will assist in preparing for clinical use and ensuring the service meets quality and regulatory standards for patients.

Biotech Booster: Commercialising biotechnology research

Established in 2022 under Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Biotech Booster is a Dutch national program to stimulate the commercialisation of biotechnology research from academia and small industry.

The program runs from 2022 – 2031 and is financed by the Dutch government’s National Growth Fund with a subsidy of ~ € 250M, to which co-financing from partners will be added.

In December 2023, Biotech Booster BV and the Biotech Booster Foundation were established.

The program connects researchers with the biotech industry to quickly turn discoveries into practical applications. It provides funding, mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs, and access to a strong network of scientists.

Biotech Booster is organised into five clusters that cover the entire field of biotechnology:

• Industrial Biotechnology & Production 
• Agriculture & Food  
• ATMPs, Biopharmaceuticals & Associated Enabling Technologies 
• Diagnostics & Services 
• Vaccines, Small Molecules, Discovery & Development Platforms

Biotech Booster works closely with other National Growth Fund programs, such as Oncode Accelerator and RegMedXB. 

VitroScan: Predictive tumour testing service

Based out of Leiden Bio Science Park, VitroScan has developed ChemoPredict, a predictive tumour testing service for ovarian cancer patients.

The platform identifies chemotherapy-resistant versus chemotherapy-sensitive patients, demonstrating its capability to select effective and cost-efficient treatment strategies for individual patients.

VitroScan’s clinical trial program is performed in collaboration with expert clinicians from leading oncology centres. In these trials, patient specific ex vivo tumour sensitivity to chemo-, targeted, or immunotherapy is correlated to clinical outcomes.

Although treatments are available, 30 per cent of patients have a tumour that does not respond to the standard primary therapy of carboplatin + paclitaxel and move on to an advanced stage.

In total, about 70 per cent of ovarian cancer patients relapse within three years of treatment and are then treated with a range of second and third-line therapies.

The high-rate disease progression, variable treatment success, large economic burden, as well as the few predictive biomarkers for this tumour type make ovarian cancer a prime candidate for developing reliable predictive tumour testing.

Knowledge of tumour sensitivity will allow both doctors and patients to make better-informed treatment decisions and avoid unnecessary side effects and loss of quality of life. It will also open up avenues for biopharmaceutical testing of potential new treatments.

A couple of months back, the company announced a partnership with Imunotx to start its first ex vivo clinical trial with a patient for Imuno’s peptide MHC targeting T cell engagers!

Helsingborg-based Acorai, a Swedish company specialising in heart failure management devices, announced that it secured $4.5M (approximately €4.28M) in a fresh round of funding. 

The investment, made by the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund, Taiwan Medical University, and private investors, will support the completion of clinical studies and regulatory approvals in the US and Europe.

Earlier this year, in January 2024, Acorai closed an oversubscribed seed equity round, raising over $4.5M.

Capital utilisation

Acorai has completed patient enrollment for its CAPTURE-HF study, involving over 1,600 participants from 20 hospitals across six countries.

With an FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and collaboration through the FDA’s TAP Pilot programme, the company is on track for regulatory submissions and a planned commercial launch by 2026. 

With an additional $6M provisioned from the EIC Fund for future equity financing, Acorai is preparing to raise additional capital in 2025 to support clinical validation, regulatory approvals, and early commercialisation of its heart failure management technology.

Acorai CEO, Filip Peters, says, “We are happy to welcome the EIC Fund as an investor in Acorai and look forward to working closely with the fund as one of Europe’s leading deep tech investors. Acorai is at a transformative point and has built a solid foundation to become a world leader in non-invasive cardiac care.”

“With more than $6M in additional capital provisioned from the EIC Fund to Acorai’s future funding rounds, this investment will allow Acorai to scale up its clinical and regulatory efforts to reach the market.”

Peters adds, “This represents another important step toward bringing our solution to the market, with the potential to impact over 60 million heart failure patients worldwide positively.”

A device for heart failure management

Acorai is developing a non-invasive intracardiac pressure monitoring device to improve heart failure management for over 64 million patients worldwide. The device, built on the patented SAVE Sensor System, combines non-invasive hardware with machine learning.

The SAVE Sensor System combines seismic, acoustic, visual, and electrical sensors to provide detailed cardiac data. This data is analysed in real time by a machine learning engine trained on one of the largest clinical datasets. 

In 2023, the company received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, enabling participation in the FDA’s TAP Pilot programme. Backed by institutional medtech investors, healthcare systems, and strategic partners, Acorai aims to shape the future of cardiac care through non-invasive solutions.

Brief about EIC Fund

The EIC Fund, established by the European Commission, invests in a wide range of technologies and sectors across EU countries and those linked to Horizon Europe.

As part of the EIC Accelerator blended finance, the fund addresses financing gaps by supporting the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies. 

It collaborates with market players, encourages co-investments, and builds networks of capital providers and strategic partners. The fund also emphasises empowering female founders and reducing innovation disparities across the EU.

Paris-based Raidium, a company specialised in creating the model for 3D medical imaging in radiology, announced on Thursday, November 28, that it has raised €16M in a seed funding round, co-led by Newfund and Kurma Partners.

Others, including Galion.exe, Founders Future, Debiopharm, Techmind, and the European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA), participated in the round.

The French company will use the funds to facilitate the market launch of their prototyped product, as well as the continuous expansion of their world-class team.

The announcement comes four months after the French company was selected for the EIC Accelerator funding program.

Raidium: Building a 3D model for medical imaging in radiology

Founded by Paul Herent and Pierre Manceron, Raidium is developing a 3D Large Vision Language foundation model specifically designed for analysing CT scans and MRIs.

According to the company, this model has been trained on a comprehensive proprietary dataset sourced from their partner, the Centre Imagerie du Nord.

Additionally, the company has also prototyped an innovative user interface tailored for radiologists.

Raidium’s mission is to help radiologists use medical imaging more effectively. This allows for the creation of new and innovative biomarkers that can benefit patients.

Delft-based OASYS NOW, the EU’s first AI-powered patient recruitment platform, has been announced as the winner of Slush 100 after pitching live on the international summit’s Startup Stage.

The Dutch company wins €1M equity investment from two of Europe’s most prominent early-stage venture funds: General Catalyst and Cherry Ventures. 

Additionally, the company will also get hands-on mentoring from industry leaders to scale up its personalised, patient-centric health platform.

The other two startups that made it made it to the final 3 were Ireland’s Dev Ally (a self-serve digital accessibility platform designed to help organisations tackle compliance) and Montreal-based Mohana (a precision platform to help women reduce the time and effort required to detect, understand, and act on hormonal imbalances).

OASYS NOW: Streamlines trial matching process

Founded by Nima Salami and Sara Okhuijsen, OASYS NOW claims to play a pivotal role in addressing a crucial challenge faced by drug development companies—identifying suitable candidates for clinical trials and research studies.

This is significant for patients with life-threatening chronic and rare diseases who need timely access to new treatment options. 

Currently, the process of matching patients with appropriate treatments is manual, laborious, and inefficient, costing drug research organisations millions of euros and, unfortunately, precious lives every year. 

OASYS aims to revolutionise this process, bringing efficiency to drug development and potentially saving lives by providing timely access to new treatment options.

The company focuses on cardiology, rare diseases, and chronic illnesses. It has created an AI-based platform that helps hospitals, doctors, and research nurses find patients eligible for clinical trials.

The company is building the EU’s first AI-powered Patient Recruitment platform for Clinical Trials. It consists of two main products:

GRIP App: The GRIP app helps users take control of their health data. It provides personal health insights and helps users find clinical trials that match their needs, enabling them to receive treatments more quickly.

ELaiGIBLE Platform: The ELaiGIBLE platform accelerates the process of identifying eligible patients for clinical trials. It reduces the time needed from months to just minutes for hospitals, clinics, and research organisations.

Oulu, Finland-based ŌURA, a maker of the smart ring, on Tuesday, November 19, announced that it has secured $75M (approximately €71M) in a Series D funding round at a valuation of $5B (approximately €4.7B) from California-based DexCom, a company specialised in glucose biosensing.

In addition to funding, the Finnish company also partnered with DexCom to help people improve their metabolic health by integrating Dexcom glucose data with vital signs, sleep, stress, heart health, and activity data from Oura Ring.

This integration enables data to flow between Dexcom and ŌURA products, including Dexcom glucose biosensors, Dexcom apps, Oura Ring, and the Oura App.

The first app integration resulting from the partnership is expected to launch in the first half of 2025.

“Dexcom offers the most accurate glucose biosensing systems on the market that help reveal the impact of daily lifestyle choices on glucose levels and enable our users to make informed decisions about their health and overall well-being,” says Matt Dolan, executive vice president of strategy and corporate development at Dexcom.

“Partnering with ŌURA gives us the opportunity to redefine the category again, integrating data from Dexcom glucose biosensors with the continuous insights and metrics measured by Oura Ring. This powerful combination will attract new shared customers who want to better understand the link between activity, sleep, nutrition, and their glucose,” adds Dolan.

The announcement comes after the Finnish company announced that it has sold 2.5 million rings, expects to see annual sales double in 2024 to roughly $500M, and is profitable.

The company has launched a new feature called Meals in Oura Labs, allowing users to track their meal timing and connect it to their chronotype. This feature helps illustrate how meal timing and choices can affect sleep, stress, and recovery.

Oura Ring: Pioneering health and wellness

Founded in 2013 by Kari Kivelä, Markku Koskela, and Petteri Lahtela, Oura Ring is a smart ring fitted with sensors to measure users’ sleep patterns, track their activity, and measure their body temperature.

The smart ring provides users with actionable insights to optimise their health and performance through sleep, activity, readiness, stress, resilience, women’s health, and heart health.

“Ninety-seven per cent of Oura Members have expressed interest in understanding how the food they eat impacts their health,” says Tom Hale, ŌURA chief executive officer.

“This partnership with Dexcom will enable us to empower our members to make informed decisions and adjust behaviours to positively impact their biometrics and long-term health. Working together, ŌURA and Dexcom will help members decide what and when to eat by surfacing correlations between activities like sleep and exercise and members’ glucose levels. And because we know that people are affected differently by the same foods and activities, guidance and insights will be personalised,” adds Hale.

London-based Heim Health (formerly known as Ally Health), a healthcare company that provides on-demand clinical care, announced on Tuesday that it has secured €2.65M in a seed funding round.

The round was led by Heal Capital and joined by Form Ventures, Portfolio Ventures, and Houghton Street Ventures. 

The funding will enable the UK company to develop its proprietary assignment algorithms further and support a wider range of healthcare services, including furthering its work with the NHS.

With the capital, the company will also advance its mission of moving care from hospitals back into the community, focusing on preoperative and discharge support pathways.

Sasha Tory, Co-Founder, and Chief Growth Officer, adds, “Our goal is to make scheduling an appointment as simple for patients as booking a table or arranging a parcel delivery. We achieve this by enabling healthcare providers to deliver in-home care efficiently, eliminating the burden of unnecessary handwritten paperwork and logistics management. By relieving practitioners of these pressures, we tap into under-utilised workforce capacity and prevent future strain on the healthcare system.”

Heim Health: Making in-person clinical care accessible

Founded by Kelly Klifa, James Monico, and Sasha Tory, Heim Health partners with healthcare organisations – both in the private sector and the NHS –  to manage the end-to-end delivery of their at-home appointments.

The company hires skilled nurses and healthcare workers to provide care at patients’ homes, including blood tests, post-operative checks, and injections.

Their API-led platform makes it easier and more efficient to deliver these services.

The platform does this by leveraging ‘last mile’ delivery-inspired algorithms to optimise the practitioner’s route and schedule, reducing time spent on the road and enabling more patients to be seen within a shift.

For patients, the tech offers a simple interface where they can book, change, or cancel at-home appointments – making it as easy as booking a table at a restaurant.

Automated reminders and live updates keep patients up to date on their appointments, whilst referring clinicians can track the progress of appointments live in the Heim Health dashboard. 

The Heim Health platform also makes sure any equipment needed for the appointment is delivered ahead of time.  

Heim Health helps older adults, people with mobility challenges, and those with special needs by making it easier to access care. It also relieves the stress on family members by simplifying how healthcare services are organised.

For Heim Health’s healthcare partner clients, using the system to coordinate home health appointments has resulted in a reduction in patient waiting times of up to 85 per cent.

Currently, the platform is already partnering with a wide range of primary healthcare providers, including Numan, Manual, Thriva, Ted’s Health, Nationwide Pathology, Optimale, Selph, and Bioniq, amongst others, to optimise their at-home care services.

Kelly Klifa, Co-Founder and CEO at Heim Health, says, “For a long time, healthcare was rooted in the community. This brought so many benefits to both patients and practitioners, but in recent decades it’s become completely cost-ineffective to deliver it. Meanwhile, secondary care is becoming increasingly bottlenecked, with waiting lists at an all-time high and discharge delays keeping patients in hospital longer than they need.”

The investor

Based out of Berlin, Heal Capital is a venture capital firm that backs mission-driven founders with capital and immediate access to the healthcare system.

From Seed to Series A, the VC invests € 1-5M in HealthTech startups across Europe.

Marta Mrozowicz, Investment Manager at Heal Capital, says, “At Heal Capital we’re big believers in bringing healthcare closer to home, which we think can lead to improved patient outcomes, increasing access to care, and easing the burden off traditional systems. What we’re excited about is Heim’s real platform potential, which can easily leverage existing supply and match it with patient demand in a customer-centric fashion. The Heim team is doing the hard work of putting in the infrastructure for community care and we’re proud to back them on this journey.”

Berlin-based Quantune, a deep tech startup in optics and photonics technology, announced on Tuesday that it has secured €13.5M in seed financing round.

Out of the total, the company raised €8.5M in equity financing, led by U.S.-based Point72 Ventures and Munich-based Vsquared Ventures.

This funding comes on top of more than €5M in public grants from the European Innovation Council (EIC) and the Investment Bank of Berlin (IBB) through the ProFIT program.

“Our vision is to change the way we think about health. This seed round enables us to embark on the exciting R+D, and productisation works ahead of us,” said Co-Founder Jan F. Kischkat.

Fund utilisation

The German company will use the funds to support product development to meet regulatory standards toward global market entry.

Additionally, the company will use the capital to expand its detection capabilities and fine-tune the spectrometer’s design for even better compactness and user experience.

Quantune Technologies will use the investment to focus on hiring top talent across nearly all departments.

“We are excited about the journey ahead and thrilled to have the backing of strong investors that reflect our global ambitions”, says co-founder Nikolaus Hahne.

Quantune Technologies: Developing continuous health monitoring wearable.

Founded in 2019 by Nikolaus Hahne and Jan F. Kischka, Quantune Technologies has developed a miniaturized laser spectrometer for continuous, non-invasive health monitoring.

Based on Quantune’s patented Quantum-Cascade Laser spectrometer, the wrist-worn device provides lab-quality precision in measuring biomarkers like glucose, lactate, and ketone bodies, making proactive and personalised healthcare accessible to all.

With over 40 patents in optics and photonics across 10 countries, Quantune is at the forefront of the development of mobile, real-time health monitoring solutions.

The investor

Point72 Ventures is a global venture capital strategy that invests in founders with bold ideas who use the latest technologies to drive transformational change across industries.

The VC offers entrepreneurs access to expertise and insights, executive and technical talent, and hands-on support.

“Creating a consumer wearable to monitor molecular biomarkers non-invasively has been a long-standing challenge. We think past approaches were inhibited by mature technologies with low data quality and heavy data processing,” says Tara Stokes, Partner at Point72 Ventures.

“We believe success lies in new technology with higher data quality from the start. It’s why we were so excited about Quantune. The founding team’s deep knowledge and vision for global impact have inspired us,” Stokes.

Investing in deep tech companies, Vsquared Ventures focuses on new space, new computing, energy transition, robotics and manufacturing, new computing and sensing, AI and next-gen software and tech-bio.

Vsquared Ventures has built one of Europe’s strongest deep tech portfolios, including industry disruptors Isar Aerospace, IQM Quantum Computing, Zama.ai, Customcells, Neura Robotics and The Exploration Company.

“Quantune Technologies’ approach to non-invasive health monitoring is a game-changer for chronically ill patients and health-conscious individuals alike,” says Michael Jobst, Principal at Vsquared Ventures. “Their technology is not only incredibly precise but also easily wearable,

opening up new possibilities for preventive and personalised healthcare.”

Delft-based uPATCH, a health-tech startup, has secured seed funding from INZET, a fund managed by Shaping Impact Group, to further its mission of advancing global drug delivery through microneedle technology. The funding amount, however, remains undisclosed.

uPATCH specialises in developing applicators for microneedle array patches, aiming to make drug delivery more accessible worldwide. 

“The team is on a mission to contribute to the future of vaccine administration and (re-) distribution; a mission closely aligned with our impact investing goals,” says Jelena Jakulj, Partner at Shaping Impact Group.

Making drug delivery available for everyone

Microneedles are a new drug delivery method recognised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for their benefits over traditional needles. They are painless, require less medication, can be self-administered, and don’t need cold storage. However, microneedles can be less effective if not applied correctly. 

To address this, uPATCH is developing applicators that help ensure microneedles work reliably. 

Founded in 2018 by Koen van der Maaden and Bart van Oorschot, uPATCH aims to make microneedle use more consistent. Now based in Leiden BioScience Park, the company partners with other microneedle firms to improve this technology.

Capital utilisation

The funding will enable uPATCH to speed up product development, expand internationally, grow partnerships, enhance research and development, and establish an ISO13485 quality management system for a sustainable business.

Paul Bromberg, CEO of uPATCH, says, “This investment is a crucial milestone for uPATCH as we continue our mission to make drugs and vaccines accessible to everyone on earth.”

“Shaping Impact Group’s vision for supporting impactful innovation aligns perfectly with our goals, and their backing will accelerate our efforts to unlock the potential of microneedles.”

Brief about Shaping Impact Group

Shaping Impact Group is an impact-focused VC fund aiming to maximise societal returns by directing capital towards positive social and environmental outcomes.

The group supports impact investors and philanthropists through investment funds, consulting services, and fostering an impact-driven community. Its INZET fund specifically invests in social enterprises that enhance the quality of life for people needing care or help prevent chronic health issues.

Lund, Sweden-based Aligned Bio, a nanotechnology company, announced on Monday that it has secured SEK 19.4M (approximately €1.6M) in funding through a new share issue. 

Both current and new investors, including SmiLe Inject Capital, participate in the round. 

The company will use the funds to develop and scale up its nanowire production technology.

Besides funding, the Swedish company also announced that it has been accepted into the SmiLe incubator program. 

”We believe that our DNA analysis technology will soon be mature enough to attract a partner who can help us bring it to market. I am very much looking forward to leveraging SmiLe’s extensive network and expertise in business development. Moreover, their laboratories and equipment give us access to the instruments we really need,” says Kenneth Harlow, CEO of Aligned Bio. 

Aligned Bio: Developing nanowire-based technology platform for biosensors

Led by Kenneth Harlow, Aligned Bio is developing a new nanowire-based technology platform for biosensors.

The company has chosen to apply the technology in two areas: disease diagnostics, such as cancer, and genome sequencing (mapping DNA).

The company’s technology can analyse longer DNA fragments and provides 10-100 times higher sensitivity in diagnostics compared to existing commercial sensors.

The production of nanowires also becomes simpler and thus more cost-effective than with existing techniques. The company is now starting to scale up production. 

The company is conducting projects in collaboration with leading players in the diagnostics industry, including Roche Diagnostics.

The company is also collaborating with other international companies that recognise the potential to integrate nanowire technology into their products. 

The investor

SmiLe is a venture hub that specialises in advancing life science startups from concept to commercialisation.

A few days back, Ulrika Ringdahl was appointed CEO of SmiLe Venture Hub, succeeding Ebba Fåhraeus, who stepped down after 10 years.

The platform offers comprehensive support through every stage of entrepreneurship, including tailored incubation and acceleration programs, a variety of educational courses, and access to top-tier lab facilities.

To date, the company’s flagship incubator program has supported over 100 startups, facilitating their collective acquisition of more than €841M in venture capital and contributing to 21 successful IPOs.

“We are very pleased that Aligned has been so successful with its financing. This enables their groundbreaking products to reach the market sooner and benefit patients. We look forward to being involved and supporting the company’s path forward,” says Ulrika Ringdahl, CEO of SmiLe Venture Hub. 

Amsterdam-based Confocal.nl, a microscope manufacturer, announced on Thursday that it has secured €5M from a consortium of investors, including ROM InWest and Nascent Ventures. 

With this funding, ROM InWest and Nascent Ventures join the Rabobank Startup & Scale-up team, RVO Innovatiekrediet, and other existing investors and partners. These include VCC TechNanoFund, ECFG, University of Amsterdam Ventures and Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland.

The funding will help the company to make microscopes more accessible worldwide, enabling scientists to achieve breakthroughs faster in developing effective medicines and innovative agricultural crops.

Pim Vos, CEO of Confocal.nl, says, “We are going to make our technology more accessible to both the scientific and industrial research world. In addition, we are also investing in our marketing and sales, especially in Europe and the United States,”

Confocal.nl: Helping scientists achieve breakthroughs more quickly

Confocal.nl was founded in 2016 as a spin-off from the University of Amsterdam.

The company develops and produces advanced microscopes that enable scientists to study living cells much more efficiently. It is called ‘Live cell imaging.

Pim Vos, CEO of Confocal.nl, explains, “We are on the eve of major breakthroughs in the medical world, which means that more manpower is needed to work with confocal microscopy. Our technology can make a big difference because it makes this complicated technology more suitable and accessible to a wider group of scientists.”

The microscopes use minimal laser light at a very high resolution. This prevents cells from behaving differently, fading or dying faster, allowing processes in living cells to be studied longer and more accurately.

“Traditional microscopes use intensive laser light, which causes cells to behave differently, fade or die faster. As a result, living cells can only be studied to a limited extent. Our technology prevents this and offers scientists the opportunity to study processes in living cells for longer and more accurately, and results become more reproducible. This is crucial for research into new medicines and treatments for complex diseases,” adds Vos

Currently, the total team consists of 20 people, working both remotely and from the company location at the Amsterdam Science Park.

The investor

ROM InWest is North Holland’s regional development company. The team supports entrepreneurs who contribute to the food transition, energy transition, care transition, circular economy, and/or a robust, sustainable, and social North Holland economy with their innovations.

In addition to offering assistance in finding external financiers, ROM InWest also invests in companies from its funds. ROM InWest works closely with parties to offer knowledge and networks.

Janet Nieboer, CEO of ROM InWest says, “Live cell imaging is a promising technology in the fight against diseases such as cancer. Confocal.nl makes this technology widely accessible, which not only contributes to effective treatment methods but also to lower healthcare costs.”

Nascent Ventures is an active seed fund that realises deeptech startups based on breakthrough technologies from Dutch research institutes and universities.