MedTech company Implican raises €1M in seed round
Medical device company, Implican, raised €1M in its first seed investment round. The funding, made by the Dutch investors NextGen Ventures, and the Investment and Development Agency for the Northern Netherlands (NOM), will enable further development as well as preclinical and clinical testing of Implican’s product ‘Anastomotic Device’. The Anastomotic Device allows for a novel technique to make colorectal anastomoses based on compression and primary wound healing.
New Technology
Implican is a startup company focusing on the colorectal anastomosis that is made after resection of the rectum or sigmoid, often because of colorectal cancer surgery. By compressing the two bowel ends between rings, the submucosa of both bowel ends is approximated just outside the rings. As these layers are sterile and well vascularized, the wound will heal quickly by primary intent. This will result in a minimization of anastomotic leakage, a potentially dangerous complication that plague conventional stapled anastomoses. As the rings will be excreted after the wound heals, no foreign material will remain in the body.
Investment Round
“We are very happy with the confidence received by these well-known Dutch investors. We value their MedTech business experience. The funding will enable us to develop an alpha product for the first-in-human phase I trials,” said Ivo Kooijman, CEO of Implican. “I am excited to continue to develop this patented solution in cooperation with the UMCG. It will greatly benefit our patients,” added Klaas Havenga, CMO of Implican and head of the Department of Gastro-Intestinal Surgery of the University Medical Groningen.
Peter Haasjes, Investment Director at NextGen Ventures, commented, “We believe the technology developed by Implican will minimize anastomotic leakage in colorectal surgery. The investment perfectly fits in our mission to contribute to healthy aging and improved health care.”
Ytsen van der Meer, Venture Capital Investor at NOM, said, “As the Implican solution reduces complications after surgery, it will impact and relief the health care system. Implican is already heavily linked to the Northern Netherlands and we promote to keep it like that.”
For more information, please contact:
Ivo Kooijman, CEO