EIT Health start-up raises EUR 1m in seed funding

Longenesis, a Latvian start-up supported by EIT Health, has announced the completion of a USD1.2 million seed funding round, to support their goal of advancing the digitalisation of biomedical research through digital tools.

The start-up, co-founded by Insilico Medicine and other top-tier biotech players, is a medical technology  company that provides a technological bridge between healthcare institutions and the Biotech industry. It aims to unlock the potential of biomedical data and accelerate the novel drug and treatment discovery.

Longenesis aims to promote patients’ involvement and confidence in research organisations, as well as allowing clinical sites and patient advocacy organisations to disclose their patients’ data to adhere them to biomedical research.

In 2020,the Riga-based start-up took part in  the EIT Health Headstart programme wining EUR40 000. Speaking about their success in the programme Inês Matias, Business Creation Manager of EIT Health InnoStars, said: “I am proud that the Headstart programme might have contributed to the success of Longenesis. said. They showed us during programme that they had responded to current  challenges in healthcare, supporting COVID-19 research with a technological toolkit that  safely showcases patient data to clinical investigators and researchers without releasing personal information”.

Medical data is sensitive and private, which presents challenges for researchers who need vast and precise datasets for their work. By bringing digitalisation and consent-enabled disclosure of biological assets, as well as emphasising patient-centredness, Longenesis could eventually contribute to lowering costs for recruitment, and speeding up biomedical research.

The funds – an overall USD1.2 million backed by a group of business angels led by Rustam Gilfanov and also joined by Ilya Suharenko, a private investor and one of the Managing Partners of LongeVC – will allow Longenesis to expand in its key markets and scale the deployment of its three core products: Longenesis Curator, Longenesis Engage, Longenesis Themis.

Curator enables research institutions, such as hospitals or biobanks, to publish anonymised patient records and gain requests for co-operation from interested third parties. Engage simplifies the process of onboarding new patients, and enables the management of patient contact information for follow-up inquiries and consent during their participation in research. Themis is a consent management solution for people enrolled in biomedical research and clinical trials that is accessible with the help of an API.

In 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, EIT Health expanded the scope of the Headstart programme to support the immediate need for COVID-19 solutions and has selected 21 start-ups to develop products and services that will help Europe contain, treat and manage the disease.