Aachen, Germany — Protem­bis GmbH (Protem­bis), a cardio­vas­cu­lar medi­cal device company, has raised EUR 30 million in a Series B finan­cing round. The startup will use the funds to advance the initia­tion of the PROTEMBO Inves­ti­ga­tio­nal Device Exemp­tion (IDE) Pivo­tal Trial (NCT05873816). The finan­cing round was split into two sepa­rate capi­tal increa­ses, both of which have now been comple­ted. A Euro­pean consor­tium of VC inves­tors led the invest­ment, inclu­ding Segu­lah Medi­cal Acce­le­ra­tion from Sweden, XGEN Venture from Italy and the Tech­Vi­sion Fund from Germany. Other inves­tors include Copa­rion, seve­ral large family offices, angel inves­tors and a multi­na­tio­nal medi­cal tech­no­logy group.

“We are plea­sed to announce the closing of the finan­cing round and thank our exis­ting and new inves­tors for their trust,” said Karl von Mangoldt and Conrad Rasmus, Co-CEOs of Protem­bis. “It reflects the fact that the field of cere­bral embo­lic protec­tion is thri­ving and that future growth will be driven by youn­ger and lower-risk pati­ents who do not accept the risk of brain injury when opting for trans­ca­the­ter aortic valve replacement.”

In addi­tion, Dr. Keith D. Dawkins, MD, was appoin­ted to the Protem­bis Advi­sory Board. Dawkins has more than 35 years of expe­ri­ence in the cardio­vas­cu­lar field. He was a prac­ti­cing cardio­lo­gist in the UK for over 20 years, a Fulbright Scho­lar at Stan­ford Univer­sity, Presi­dent of the British Cardio­vas­cu­lar Inter­ven­tion Society and author of more than 750 acade­mic publi­ca­ti­ons and presen­ta­ti­ons. Dawkins has been Chief Medi­cal Offi­cer (CMO) of Shock­wave since 2019. Previously, he held a senior posi­tion as Global CMO at Boston Scien­ti­fic since 2008. He is also a member of the super­vi­sory boards of Ventric Health LLC and Jena­Valve Tech­no­logy Inc. and as Chair­man of Innov­He­art s.r.l. Dawkins will contri­bute his exper­tise to Protem­bis’ clini­cal stra­te­gies and pre-commer­cial programs once the IDE study is completed.

“Having such a visio­nary leader as Dr. Dawkins on our advi­sory board demons­tra­tes the possi­bi­li­ties that cere­bral embo­lic protec­tion (CEP) holds for future trans­ca­the­ter thera­pies. We look forward to working closely toge­ther as the field evol­ves and our supe­rio­rity trial gains momen­tum,” says Azin Parhiz­gar, PhD and Advi­sory Board Chair.

“I have been empha­si­zing the need to protect the brain from new lesi­ons during trans­ca­the­ter aortic valve repla­ce­ment (TAVR) for many years and am ther­e­fore deligh­ted to be joining Protem­bis,” says Dawkins. “The ProtEmbo system and clini­cal trial design are inno­va­tive and I am confi­dent that they will greatly trans­form the field of cere­bral embo­lic protec­tion and elimi­nate or miti­gate many of the current issues of concern to the medi­cal profession.”

About Protem­bis!

The start-up Protem­bis, foun­ded by Karl von Mangoldt and Conrad Rasmus, has set itself the goal of offe­ring a simple and relia­ble solu­tion to protect pati­ents from brain inju­ries during left-sided heart surgery. To this end, the start-up is deve­lo­ping the ProtEmbo® Cere­bral Protec­tion System, which is curr­ently under­go­ing clini­cal trials. https://protembis.com