Aortyx, the Barcelona-based medtech scaleup, has raised 13.8M EUR Series A funding round led by Ship2B Ventures. The funding will be used to reach the milestone of first-in-human readiness, bringing their product – a bioresorbable patch that treats aortic tears – closer to market.
The Aortyx team develops a minimally invasive solution to what is called aortic dissection – essentially a tear in the aortic wall. To do so, they have developed a steerable catheter that snakes through the aorta, and shoots out a circular patch that plugs the tear. They have also developed the patch, which is made out of a biodegradable material that also serves as scaffolding to encourage new tissue regrowth. The founding team is made up of four PhD-holding co-founders, CEO Jordi Martorell, CTO Noemí Balà, CSO Salvador Borrós, and CMO Vicenç Riambau.
More than 50,000 Europeans suffer from aortic dissections per year, and Aortyx aims at treating at least half of those with their first generation product. The alternatives are suboptimal – either invasive open surgery, endovascular repair with stent grafts, or simple pharmacological treatment to reduce blood pressure. All three strategies incur high short-, mid-, and long-term mortality and morbidity rates that Aortyx aims at diminishing with their minimally invasive approach.
“Aortic dissections kill more people than car crashes. What we hope to provide is an option that is effective, long-lasting, and respectful with the aorta to treat aortic dissection and other aortic diseases.” – Jordi Martorell, co-founder and CEO of Aortyx
The technology has been tested with successful outcomes in animals and cadavers. The funding round’s goal is to reach first-in-human readiness within two years. The key users of this technology will be vascular and cardiothoracic surgeons. The company was co-founded by researchers from the IQS School of Engineering in Barcelona and the Head of vascular surgery at Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, Dr. Vicenç Riambau, an internationally recognized vascular surgeon who has not only been instructing the development of the product, but has been disseminating the technology in the most relevant conferences worldwide and published the first results in animals in peer-reviewed journals.
The round is led by Ship2B Ventures, through BSocial Impact Fund (supported by Banco Sabadell, the EIF, and AXIS), and Clave Capital, through Clave Innohealth (supported by CDTI-Innvierte). They are joined by Nara Capital, the EIC fund, the CDTI, through its SICC Innvierte, angel investors, and a key corporate player in the aortic space – one of the top five aortic device manufacturers in the world.
“We are backing Aortyx as it potentially represents a revolution in cardiovascular medicine. They are developing a solution that is not only disruptive and technically brilliant, but driven by a clear social purpose: to save lives where today there are barely any options. Led by an exceptional team and a bold vision, they have the potential to forever change how we treat aortic dissections.” – Jordi Ferrer, Investment Director at Ship2B Ventures
“We are extremely excited to join Aortyx. A company born from a vision that will change the paradigm of how aortic dissections are addressed. The technology is the result of years of research at IQS and Hospital Clínic, which have been able to transfer this technology and advance the development of the product for patients with the ultimate goal of saving lives” – Sergio San Agustín, Investment Director at Clave Capital and director at Aortyx
The IP lies in the catheter, deploying hardware, as well as the patch. The bioresorbable patch is manufactured using the electrospinning technique. This is the same concept used by spiders when they create their webs, and allows for creating a controlled, viscoelastic, and biocompatible material.
