ARTIRIA Medical raises CHF 3 million to improve stroke treatments

15.07.2020 09:00, Guillaume Tinsel

ARTIRIA Medical, an EPFL spin-off and neurovascular start-up closed a CHF 3M Series A financing to bring its first product through clinical validation and regulatory approval. The investment round, led by 4FO Venture Partners, was joined by investiere, the Zürcher Kantonal Bank (ZKB), NEST pension fund, Venture Kick and business angels. In our interview, Guillaume Petit-Pierre, ARTIRIA's Founder and CEO, talks about the steps he went through to achieve this milestone and the objectives of his company.

13 million people suffer a stroke every year. This brain pathology often leads to severe disabilities and death. Currently, the standard of care is based on a minimally invasive approach, using the patients' arteries as an access route to smoothly reach the brain, to locally deliver life-saving treatments. However, this procedure can be very challenging, as the device navigation takes place in a dense network of tiny brain arteries. This complexity causes surgeons to lose significant and critical time before they can effectively deliver the therapy. ARTIRIA empowers catheters and guidewires. Their cutting-edge technology allows micromotion deep in the brain arteries, thus enabling seamless navigation towards a cerebral lesion. The company’s clinical goal is to ease the procedure and reduce the duration of stroke treatment, therefore improving patient outcomes. “ We are pleased to have investors sharing our vision and a board of directors with significant medical device expertise to help us deliver it,” says Marc Boers, Founder and COO of ARTIRIA.

Guillaume Petit-Pierre, how will the CHF 3 million investment help achieve your vision?
We will use this substantial investment to accelerate the clinical and regulatory development of our patented micro-actuated device which has the potential to significantly improve stroke treatment.

You won Venture Kick in 2019. How did it help you lay the foundation for your growth and today's achievement?
Venture Kick has been a solid program that significantly accelerated our development and helped us to fine-tune our business case. This program was perfect to prepare Artiria for its first financing round!

You also participated in Venture Leaders Life Science in 2018. How did it leverage your fundraising strategy?
Venture Leaders was a great experience. It brings you significant training to pitch your project plus it increases your investor's network significantly, which is great when you are raising funds.