GENT, Belgium, Sept. 22, 2017 — FEops, a leader in personalized computer modeling for structural heart interventions, announced it has secured a 6 million euros investment, led by Valiance, and joined by existing investors Capricorn and PMV. The funding will be used to aggressively implement the company’s product roadmap, centered around FEops HEARTguideTM, and drive commercial adoption in the fastgrowing market for transcatheter valve therapies.
FEops HEARTguideTM proprietary array of products use advanced computer simulations to provide clinicians and valve manufacturers first-ever insights into the interaction between valve and specific patient anatomy – preoperatively. Such insights have tremendous power to accelerate research and development of novel valve-based solutions, as well as ultimately improve clinical outcomes in real-world hospital settings.
Backed by strong preclinical data, FEops HEARTguideTM presents a prime opportunity to integrate valve design with patient-specific testing, and to do that virtually, cost-effectively and in a clinically meaningful way. Showcasing a pipeline of simulation products for structural heart, including TAVI (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation), mitral and tricuspid valve replacement, FEops has the ambition to enable wider adoption of transcatheter approaches by minimizing the risk of life-threatening complications, while reducing cost, and thus improve patient care.
“Our first commercial product, TAVIguideTM, is currently the only CE-marked technology that can predict how an aortic valve implant will interact with the patient-specific anatomy and provide guidance for personalized device size selection and position.” said Matthieu De Beule, Ph.D., co-Founder and CEO of FEops. “This Series B capital will enable us to scale commercial operations, deliver on our pipeline of simulation tools for structural heart and promptly realize the significant opportunity in the growing transcatheter valve market.
“The shift towards transcatheter-based solutions has been a game changer in TAVI and is rapidly expanding to soon dominate the structural heart space”, said Jan Pensaert, Founder and CEO of Valiance. “HEARTguideTM has unparalleled potential to drive development of structural heart innovation by accelerating research, including improving and de-risking the management of high-stake clinical trials. FEops is uniquely positioned to be the partner of choice for heart device manufacturers seeking to complement their offering to physicians by advancing pre-operative planning and significantly increase adoption of novel transcatheter valve therapies.”
About FEops
Privately held FEops, headquartered in Gent, Belgium, has developed a proprietary system to improve transcatheter valve procedures based on personalized computer simulations. Its first product, TAVIguide™, is currently the only CE-marked technology on the market that predicts how a TAVI implant will interact with the patient-specific aortic anatomy and thus provide clinically meaningful insights in the personalized device size selection and position. FEops’ pipeline extends to dedicated planning tools with unique potential in driving forward the development, testing and market adoption of new and improved device-based solutions in the structural heart space. www.feops.com
About Valiance
Valiance is a specialist growth capital investment firm based in London, backing entrepreneurs with excellent track records and assisting them through the growth stages of their businesses towards an exit. Valiance is authorized and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority and Guernsey Financial Services Commission. www.valiance-am.com
About Capricorn Venture Partners
Capricorn Venture Partners is an independent European manager of venture capital and equity funds, investing in innovative European companies with technology as competitive advantage. The investment team of Capricorn is composed of experienced investment managers with deep technology expertise and a broad industrial experience. Capricorn Venture Partners is investing out of the venture capital funds Capricorn ICT Fund, Capricorn Sustainable Chemistry Fund, Capricorn Cleantech Fund and Capricorn Health-tech Fund. In addition it is the management company of Quest for Growth, quoted on NYSE Euronext Brussels, and the investment manager of Quest Cleantech Fund, sub-fund of Quest Management SICAV. www.capricorn.be
About PMV
PMV is an investment company that shapes the economic future of Flanders by financing promising companies from the very start to growth and internationalization. With over 1 billion euros in assets under management and led by experienced professionals, PMV offers tailor-made financial solutions for entrepreneurs with a solid business plan and strong management team, including venture capital, loan and guarantees. www.pmv.eu
CAUTION: This news release contains certain “forward-looking” statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These “forward-looking” statements, which may include, but are not limited to, statements concerning the projections, financial condition, results of operations concerning the projections, financial condition, results of operations and businesses of FEops, are based on management’s current expectations and estimates and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those contemplated by the “forward-looking” statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences may include, but are not limited to, risks relating to the protection of intellectual property, changes to governmental regulation of medical devices, the FDA’s approval of new products, the impact of competitive products, changes to the competitive environment, the acceptance of new products in the market, conditions of the interventional cardiology industry, and the economy and other factors.
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