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Venari Medical, an innovative medical device company based in Galway recently raised $5.3 million (€4.5 million) in seed equity funding to accelerate the development of its ground-breaking BioVena™ device for the treatment of chronic venous disease.

Venari Medical is a spinout from the BioInnovate Ireland fellowship programme for medical device innovation at NUI Galway, which is sponsored by Enterprise Ireland.

The investment round was led by Nipro Corporation, a world-leading medical product manufacturer based in Osaka, Japan. The Western Development Commission and Enterprise Ireland also contributed to the investment, in addition to international medical device experts and vascular surgeons.

Chronic venous disease (CVD) affects up to 30% of adults across the globe resulting in a significant deterioration in quality of life for sufferers, especially those with advanced skin breakdown known as venous leg ulcers. The market opportunity of CVD treatment is over $2 billion annually in the US & EU. Recent high-quality clinical evidence, supporting the benefits of acute intervention to improve overall healing of venous leg ulcers, has the potential to add over $1.5 billion to this opportunity. CVD management places a huge burden on healthcare systems amounting to $33 billion (€28 billion) per year in the US and EU alone, representing 2.5% of total healthcare expenditure.

Venari CEO and co-founder Stephen Cox commented “This seed investment accelerates a huge opportunity to improve the quality of life of sufferers of chronic venous disease (CVD) across the globe. This funding enables the clinical validation of our BioVena™ medical device, which we are confident will offer patients a less invasive and highly effective office-based treatment that is also an intuitive procedure for physicians treating CVD. We believe that widespread adoption of the BioVena ™ device has significant cost saving potential for healthcare systems.”

Commenting on their investment, Toshiaki Masuda, Managing Director at Nipro Corporation said “We are very excited to invest in Venari Medical. Their focus on Chronic Venous Disease is an area of great patient need due to its high prevalence internationally and significant impact on quality of life. This less invasive solution under development will offer physicians an entirely new treatment option for all CVD patients. The Venari Medical team have impressed us greatly with this cutting-edge approach to venous disease treatment, from their novel pre-clinical research in vein biology, to collaborations with internationally recognised experts in venous disease treatment.”

Tomás Ó Síocháin, CEO, Western Development Commission commented “This technology will improve the lives of a huge number of people, and that has been the primary focus of Stephen Cox and the team at Venari since the outset. Equally, however, this investment, underlines the importance of supporting innovation driven enterprises, building on the success of the existing medtech ecosystem in Ireland’s western region”

Manager of Enterprise Ireland’s High Potential Start-Ups Division, Jennifer Melia said; “This significant investment is as a result of Venari co-founders Stephen, Sean and Nigel’s commitment to strengthening treatment practices in healthcare and will allow them to transition to the next stage in business for Venari. As BioInnovate Ireland fellows, the Venari team are an example of how this collaborative programme funded by Enterprise Ireland is connecting experts and producing the next generation of healthcare entrepreneurs focused on improving lives. Their break-through, innovative BioVena™ device has not just the potential to transform lives the world over but to also reduce cost for healthcare systems treating chronic venous disease.

Venari has been on Enterprise Ireland’s radar since it was first established and was one of 10 ambitious start-ups chosen to exhibit at Enterprise Ireland Big Ideas showcase last year having previously availed of the Commercialisation Fund. We are so pleased to support its development as the business set their sights on new global markets and we are excited to see what is next.”

Established in 2018, Venari Medical has since developed a strong intellectual property position by perfecting a purely mechanical endovascular approach for the treatment of venous disease. Utilising the body’s natural healing mechanism, the Venari BioVena™ novel catheter system achieves effective mechanical vein disruption at a cellular level to cure symptoms. This allows for a less invasive and more effective treatment for all CVD patients, but critically patients suffering from venous leg ulcers will benefit most. Venari expects to create 20 new jobs in both senior management and technical, quality and regulatory roles over the next 3 years as a result of this investment.

Venari Medical was founded by Stephen Cox MBA (CEO), Sean Cummins (CTO) and Dr. Nigel Phelan (Chief Medical Officer). Venari Medical’s mission focus is on innovation of unparalleled safe, effective, patient-centred medical devices that improve quality of life for those with debilitating vascular disease.

See more at https://venarimedical.com/.

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