Aachen — Seed Fonds II Aachen makes a further finan­cing invest­ment in Hemo­vent GmbH. Toge­ther with the exis­ting inves­tors MIG-Inves­t­­men­t­­fonds, NRW.BANK, KfW Banken­gruppe, First Capi­tal Part­ner and the private inves­tor Prof. Dr. Peter Borges, Aache­ner Betei­li­gungs­ge­sell­schaft is thus provi­ding the neces­sary funds in the mid seven-digit range. With the fresh capi­tal, the startup wants to realize, among other things, the market launch within the scope of a so-called “post-market study”. With this study, the Hemo­vent system “MOBYBOX” will be used on humans for the first time. In paral­lel, the foun­ders are also seeking US FDA approval.

Tech­no­lo­gi­cal advancements
Hemo­vent GmbH has deve­lo­ped one of the world’s smal­lest porta­ble ECMO systems (Extra Corpo­ral Membrane Oxygena­tion, photo), which supports or even comple­tely takes over the natu­ral cardio­pul­mo­nary func­tion in case of cardio­pul­mo­nary insuf­fi­ci­ency or fail­ure. Since the closing of the previous finan­cing round in June 2017, the Aachen-based startup has successfully comple­ted product deve­lo­p­ment and the veri­fi­ca­tion and vali­da­tion phase. Extre­mely posi­tive results have been achie­ved in the in vivo trials and the company expects CE certi­fi­ca­tion later this year.

“Hemo­vent has been deve­lo­ping very posi­tively since Seed Fonds II’s initial commit­ment,” says Markus Krücke­meier, Mana­ging Direc­tor of Seed Fonds Aachen II’s manage­ment company. “So far, the medtech company has been able to reach all mile­sto­nes and even create addi­tio­nal value in some areas. We are very satis­fied — both with the tech­no­lo­gi­cal and the econo­mic progress.”

“We have set our content mile­sto­nes until mid-2020 and are working with a well-coor­­di­na­­ted manage­ment team to be able to meet all targets on sche­dule,” says Chris­tof Lenz, CEO and co-foun­­der of Hemo­vent GmbH. “In order to firmly estab­lish oursel­ves in the market, we have alre­ady been making cont­acts for years with clini­cal experts and users, insti­tu­tio­na­li­zed indus­try experts, and decis­­ion-makers from MedTech groups, and we are repre­sen­ted at trade congresses.”

About Seed Fonds II Aachen
Seed Fonds II Aachen was estab­lished in March 2012 as the succes­sor to the fully finan­ced first Seed Fonds Aachen (invest­ment period: 2007–2011) as a follow-up fund from NRW.BANK’s Seed Fonds Initia­tive. In addi­tion to NRW.BANK, Seed Fonds II Aachen is finan­ced by Spar­kasse Aachen and DSA Invest GmbH, which is backed by Aachen-based DSA Daten- und System­tech­nik GmbH. The Seed Fund provi­des young compa­nies in the start-up phase with the neces­sary equity capi­tal and thus stimu­la­tes the deve­lo­p­ment of future-orien­­ted tech­no­lo­gies in the Aachen econo­mic region. In 2018, the seed fund was laun­ched for the third time and for the first time also includes the Mönchen­glad­bach region, as the circle of inves­tors has expan­ded to include Spar­kasse Mönchengladbach.

Behind the opera­tio­nal manage­ment of the fund (FM Fonds-Mana­ge­­ment für die Region Aachen Betei­­li­­gungs-GmbH) are the invest­ment experts of the S‑UBG Group. The invest­ment company of the savings banks in the Aachen, Krefeld and Mönchen­glad­bach area looks back on more than 30 years of expe­ri­ence in finan­cing medium-sized compa­nies and tech­­no­­logy-orien­­ted start-ups. www.seedfonds-aachen.de; www.s‑ubg.de.