Anita Finnegan, founder and CEO of Nova Leah. Image: Karl Hussey/Fennell Photography
Born of Irish research, fast-growing start-up Nova Leah’s technology will now be used to aid dialysis patients worldwide.
Dundalk-based start-up Nova Leah has won its first major international customer, Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s largest provider of dialysis products and services.
The news comes on the heels of Nova Leah announcing 78 new jobs, 50 of which will be based in Dundalk.
Founded by CEO Anita Finnegan, Nova Leah, a recent Siliconrepublic.com Start-up of the Week, specialises in developing expert cybersecurity risk management systems specifically for medical devices. Protecting medical equipment from cyberattacks has risen in importance, especially since the WannaCry ransomware attack recently shut down the systems of NHS hospitals across the UK recently.
Fresenius Medical Care, which employs more than 100,000 people worldwide and reported revenues of $17.9bn in 2016, is quoted on the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges. It cares for more than 300,000 patients in its global network of more than 3,600 dialysis clinics. It also operates more than 30 production sites to provide products such as dialysis machines and dialysers.
Proving the merits of Irish research
As part of the deal, Fresenius Medical Care will implement Nova Leah’s cloud-based system, SelectEvidence, the result of a five-year R&D programme at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
SelectEvidence is designed to guide medical device manufacturers in the implementation of cybersecurity requirements and best practices over the lifetime of a device, in compliance with US FDA recommendations for infosec threats and risks during pre-market and post-market activities.
Nova Leah, which is opening an office in Boston, is initially targeting customers in the imaging and electro-medical device sectors in the US, a market that is estimated to be worth $155bn. Connected devices account for approximately $51bn of this.
Initial investors in the company include Enterprise Ireland and US venture capital company COSIMO Venture Partners.
