From left: Christoph Hennersperger and Fionn Lahart. Image: OneProjects
OneProjects has raised €11m in Series A to support the development of its Verafeye technology, which is designed to treat atrial fibrillation.
Today (23 June), Irish-German medical device start-up OneProjects announced that it has closed an €11m Series A funding round led by LSP, investing from its LSP Health Economics Fund 2.
The round was co-led by Ireland-based Atlantic Bridge University Fund, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and a number of medtech entrepreneurs.
Founded in 2017, OneProjects specialises in cardiac imaging innovations. The start-up is led by CEO Fionn Lahart and CTO Christoph Hennersperger.
Originating at the BioInnovate Ireland medical device centre in Galway, the founders subsequently advanced their technology concept with Trinity College Dublin and NUI Galway. The company now also has significant development activities in Munich, where it is currently developing a novel breakthrough technology in the field of medical imaging, called Verafeye.
Funding plans
The start-up’s initial focus is to facilitate the treatment of cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (AFib). The new funding will be used to advance product development, carry out clinical trials and prepare for the US commercialisation of the system.
AFib is an irregular heartbeat caused by chaotic electric signals entering the heart. The disease affects more than 38m people globally and is one of the most frequent causes of strokes and other heart conditions. One of the principal treatments for AFib is catheter ablation which, despite technological advancements, is only successful in about half of procedures performed.
According to OneProjects, many patients go on to require repeat procedures, often with a worsening condition that requires continued medical management, following the initial failed attempt.
‘We hope to have our products in the market making a huge difference to patients in the not too distant future’
– FIONN LAHART
By using advanced imaging and data analytics in conjunction with its catheter-based sensor system, OneProjects’ Verafeye tech aims to provide 4D data from within the heart, increasing the efficacy and safety of treatment for the growing number of patients worldwide.
Speaking to Siliconrepublic.com, Lahart commented: “Our technology is an imaging or sensor-based technology where we basically gather data from within the heart. It’s data of unprecedented quality from within the heart in real time.”
He explained that this data provides doctors with the tools and the data not only to get “a really clear, high-quality picture of the heart but, on top of that, enables them to analyse the tissue they are looking at in real-time”.
Commenting on today’s funding announcement, Lahart said: “This is a truly momentous day for OneProjects. This investment will help us to further build our team in Dublin and Munich, advance product development and ultimately achieve our goal of helping physicians provide a far better treatment for patients suffering from AFib.”
He said that the backing of LSP, Atlantic Bridge Ventures and Enterprise Ireland brings “decades of successful experience” in life sciences to OneProjects.
“We are extremely optimistic and hope to have our products in the market making a huge difference to patients and the healthcare system in the not too distant future.”
The journey so far
Lahart explained that he met his co-founder, Hennersperger, at BioInnovate at NUI Galway.
“We worked with doctors for 10 months looking at hundreds of different problems before we focused down on this one problem – that’s where the name comes from, by the way,” Lahart said. “It’s a nod to the process we followed in BioInnovate where we wanted to find one problem to solve in the world. That’s the genesis and that’s where I met Christoph.”
After completing the BioInnovate programme, the start-up secured Enterprise Ireland commercialisation funding, which brought it to Trinity College Dublin.
“We kind of spun into Trinity College,” Lahart said. “Working with Prof Bruce Murphy, who is a professor of medical devices in Trinity College. We spent the next couple of years developing the technology between Dublin and Munich – Christoph is actually based in Munich.”
For almost two years, OneProjects worked with Trinity College Dublin to develop and test technology through trials, developing different iterations of the product.
The company is now headquartered in Dublin, with all of its operations, finance, clinical, quality and regulatory work handled in the Irish capital. While the start-up does the majority of its R&D in Munich, where there is expertise to develop software for the start-up’s solution, Lahart explained that some R&D also takes place in Dublin.
