Landshut/Würzburg — Bayern Kapi­tal is taking a first-time stake in TNI medi­cal AG (TNI medi­cal) from Würz­burg with its EFRE inno­va­tion fund as part of a new finan­cing round. The company deve­lops, manu­fac­tures and sells devices for venti­la­tion therapy in pati­ents with the so-called respi­ra­tory distress syndrome. This syndrome includes COPD, a chro­nic obstruc­tive pulmo­nary dise­ase that is the fourth leading cause of death globally, accor­ding to the World Health Orga­niza­tion (WHO). Another new inves­tor is the invest­ment company GMH-Ventures GmbH. The exis­ting inves­tors SHS Gesell­schaft für Betei­li­gungs­ma­nage­ment mbH (SHS), Kredit­an­stalt für Wieder­auf­bau(KfW) and Pathena Sicar are also parti­ci­pa­ting in this round. TNI medi­cal intends to use the funds for the further deve­lo­p­ment and world­wide appr­oval of the products as well as for the deve­lo­p­ment of further markets, espe­ci­ally in non-Euro­­pean count­ries such as the USA and China.

TNI medi­cal AG, head­quar­te­red in Würz­burg, Germany, was foun­ded about ten years ago as a spin-off of seleon GmbH, an engi­nee­ring service provi­der in the medi­cal tech­no­logy sector. Imme­dia­tely after the spin-off, the company star­ted deve­lo­ping the TNI soft­Flow high-flow venti­la­tor. Another main­stay from the very begin­ning was the trade in diagno­stic and thera­peu­tic products. Follo­wing successful clini­cal trials of the venti­la­tors, SHS Gesell­schaft für Betei­li­gungs­ma­nage­ment mbH (SHS) and Kredit­an­stalt für Wieder­auf­bau (KfW) took a stake in the company in 2010. TNI medi­cal used the funds to further deve­lop the product family.

Pati­ents receive a warm, moist airflow directly into the nose without conden­sa­tion through a thin, heated and noise-opti­­mi­­zed nasal cannula with the venti­la­tors from the TNI soft­Flow family. The flow rate of the air as well as the humi­dity can be precis­ely adjus­ted and oxygen can be added if neces­sary. This leads to effec­tive treat­ment of pati­ents. In addi­tion, the products are uncom­pli­ca­ted to use, the nasal cannula is easy to put on or take off. In contrast, with many conven­tio­nal venti­la­tors with closed nasal and face masks, pati­ents complain of limi­ted comfort. When trea­ted with TNI venti­la­tors, the pati­ent can conti­nue to do simple things during therapy, such as eating, drin­king, talking, or taking medi­ca­ti­ons. TNI medical’s novel therapy not only achie­ves very good clini­cal results, but also means better tole­r­a­bi­lity for pati­ents compared to tradi­tio­nal mask therapy. TNI medi­cal products are suita­ble for use in clinics as well as at home.

The Bayern Kapi­tal Inno­va­ti­ons­fonds EFRE (BKE) is funded by the Euro­pean Union from the Euro­pean Regio­nal Deve­lo­p­ment Fund (ERDF). BKE prima­rily finan­ces inno­va­tive tech­no­logy compa­nies that are loca­ted outside the Munich metro­po­li­tan area and want to use BKE’s equity capi­tal to deve­lop new products and produc­tion proces­ses and launch and pene­trate them on the market.

Dr. Georg Ried (photo), Mana­ging Direc­tor of Bayern Kapi­tal, says: “TNI medi­cal has deve­lo­ped an outstan­ding tech­no­logy that can help many people around the world. In doing so, the team at TNI medi­cal has consis­t­ently thought of the product from the patient’s point of view. In addi­tion to the good econo­mic deve­lo­p­ment, this aspect convin­ced us to invest in TNI medical.”

Rein­hilde Spat­scheck, Chair­wo­man of the Super­vi­sory Board of TNI medi­cal AG and Mana­ging Direc­tor and Part­ner at SHS Gesell­schaft für Betei­li­gungs­ma­nage­ment, says: “TNI medi­cal AG has achie­ved signi­fi­cant mile­sto­nes in the deve­lo­p­ment, appr­oval and clini­cal test­ing of the TNI soft­Flow family in recent years. After achie­ving CE and FDA appr­oval and soon hopefully CFDA appr­oval, the time has come to consis­t­ently deve­lop the very large market poten­tial world­wide with the funds from the new finan­cing round — both in clinics and in the home­care sector.”

About TNI Medi­cal AG
TNI Medi­cal AG deve­lops, manu­fac­tures and distri­bu­tes devices for respi­ra­tory therapy in pati­ents with respi­ra­tory distress syndrome, such as chro­nic obstruc­tive pulmo­nary dise­ase (COPD). For more than ten years, the Würz­­burg-based company has stood for exactly one goal: to consis­t­ently deve­lop nasal high-flow therapy in order to offer respi­ra­tory insuf­fi­ci­ency pati­ents respi­ra­tory support with maxi­mum effi­ci­ency and comfort. Based on inten­sive rese­arch and reali­zed through precise deve­lo­p­ment work in nasal insuf­fla­tion therapy (TNI), the TNI soft­Flow system gene­ra­tion offers the highest therapy quality for all age groups in the clinic as well as in homecare.

About Bayern Kapital
Bayern Kapi­tal GmbH, based in Lands­hut, was foun­ded in 1995 as a wholly owned subsi­diary of LfA Förder­bank Bayern on the initia­tive of the Bava­rian state govern­ment. As the venture capi­tal company of the Free State of Bava­ria, Bayern Kapi­tal provi­des equity capi­tal to the foun­ders of inno­va­tive high-tech compa­nies and young, inno­va­tive tech­no­logy compa­nies in Bava­ria. Bayern Kapi­tal curr­ently mana­ges eleven invest­ment funds with an invest­ment volume of around 325 million euros. To date, Bayern Kapi­tal has inves­ted around 285 million euros of venture capi­tal in some 265 inno­va­tive tech­­no­­logy-orien­­ted compa­nies from a wide range of sectors, inclu­ding life scien­ces, soft­ware & IT, mate­ri­als & new mate­ri­als, nano­tech­no­logy and envi­ron­men­tal tech­no­logy. As a result, more than 5,000 jobs have been perma­nently crea­ted in Bava­ria in sustainable compa­nies. www.bayernkapital.de