Four reasons why MedTech in Ireland is on an upward trajectory

It has been a notable month for success in Irish MedTech. From investment news and opportunities to internationally recognised events, here is a roundup of highlights from the thriving medical devices industry in Ireland over the past few weeks.

1. Investment secured by EIT Health-supported MedTech start-ups

Gasgon Medical raises €2.25M

Gasgon Medical, an EIT Health-supported start-up based in Cork, raised €2.25M in investment. Gasgon Medical provides fluid management solutions to the clinical market. The funding round was led by DBIC Ventures, with additional investment from Halo Business Angel Network (HBAN) and Additio Investment Group, among others. The injection of capital will be used to further develop AirVault, Gasgon’s flagship product to remove air bubbles, making IV infusion safer and more accurate.

Gasgon Medical was a finalist in EIT Health’s highly-regarded Catapult competition in 2019, and winner of Headstart funding in 2018.

Symphysis Medical raises €1.9M

In the same week, Symphysis Medical raised €1.9M to further develop its product and get ready to expand into the US market. The funding round was led by HBAN, and a joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Invest Northern Ireland.

Symphysis Medical aims to help patients in palliative care with a smart, patient-centric catheter-based solution for treating malignant pleural effusions (MPE), also known as ‘fluid on the lung’, a condition which affects 50% of late-stage cancer patients.

SymPhysis Medical was co-founded by Tim Jones and Dr. Michelle Tierney after they identified MPE as an under-met clinical need during the NUI Galway BioInnovate Fellowship in 2017.

EIT Health-supported MedTech start-ups raise €31.1M in 2021

And finally, again in that same week, we announced that that nine MedTech start-ups we have supported to date went on to raise €31.1M in funding last year. All nine have developed medical device solutions to improve patient outcomes, and six are female founded or co-founded.

2. MedTech Strategist’s Innovation Summit takes place in Dublin

Now recognized as Europe’s leading medical technology investment forum, MedTech Strategist’s Innovation Summit returned to Dublin on 26^th April. The best and brightest in the MedTech world came to pitch their innovative solutions to leading VCs and angel investors from across Europe and the US.

Irish innovation was well represented with pitches from EIT Health-supported start-ups such as InVera Medical, Tympany Medical, and Zoan BioMed, along with panel participation from CroíValve, Head Diagnostics, and HidraMed Solutions. As sponsors of the event, our EIT Health Ireland-UK team joined Investor Network partners to promote European investment opportunities to founders in attendance.

3. Symphysis Medical wins MedTech Innovator international pitching event

In collaboration with the Innovation Summit, the MedTech Innovator international pitching competition took place on 25^thApril, hosted by EIT Health partners Trinity College Dublin, as well as RCSI. MedTech Innovator is a global competition and accelerator for medical device companies. It provides an opportunity to gain international recognition for promising early-stage companies.

Six of the 27 MedTech start-ups competing were from Ireland. Symphysis Medical’s vision is to enhance patient independence and reduce hospitalisations struck a chord with judges and voters. To top off an already momentous week, Symphysis Medical was crowned winner of the event. The team will have an opportunity to showcase their innovation at a medical device conference in San Francisco in June and will participate in the final competition in Boston this October.

4. OneProjects nominated in EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland

And our final piece of good news this month concerns OneProjects. The finalists for the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Ireland awards were revealed last week. Among them, OneProjects’s founders Fionn Lahart and Christoph Hennersperger were nominated in the Emerging Entrepreneur category. OneProjects is revolutionising the treatment of atrial fibrillation by developing a device that uses advanced imaging and data analytics to help doctors. OneProjects was a winner of EIT Health’s Headstart funding programme in 2018.

To learn more about how EIT Health can help medical device, biotech, and digital health start-ups accelerate into Europe, check out our range of programmes.

For those seeking to expand into the US, join our 3-part webinar Lunch and Learn series – ‘Coming to America: What European health tech and MedTech start-ups need to know.’ Register here.