SOFINNOVA-PARTNERS
2.7.2020 07:02:06 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, announced today the second investment from its MD Start III Fund, a medtech accelerator that actively works with clinicians and entrepreneurs to develop disruptive medical devices. In May 2019, the fund raised €48 million from key institutional investors and has made two seed investments so far: MastOR and Gradient Denervation Technologies. The most recent investment is in MastOR, a French company leveraging its core expertise in surgical robotics to develop enhanced laparoscopic devices to improve the precision and ergonomics of minimally-invasive surgery. The company was founded in 2019 by a renowned pioneer in laparoscopic surgery, Professor Brice Gayet of the Paris-based Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, and entrepreneur, Pierre Campredon.
“The Sofinnova MD Start team is known for its active, hands-on approach to company building,” said Prof. Gayet. “Their strategic and operational expertise is the perfect complement to the years of research and prototyping we have conducted thus far. Together, we will be able to accelerate the development of this game-changing technology and bring it to its full potential.”
MD Start III also invested in Gradient Denervation Technologies in February. The company is developing a medical device for a transvascular treatment of pulmonary hypertension, based on prior research and intellectual property developed at Stanford University. This has been an important area for MD Start, given its focus on interventional cardiology as a very innovation-savvy and fast-adopting medical community.
“These investments exemplify our mission of transforming innovative ideas into medical realities and backing inventors who are developing disruptive concepts for outstanding medical devices and procedures,” said Anne Osdoit, Partner at Sofinnova Partners. “Our network and partnerships have yielded a rich deal flow pipeline and we are confident in the potential for this fund to continue uncovering first-class devices that address major unmet medical needs.”
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, with offices in London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of 40 professionals from all over Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The firm focuses on paradigm-shifting technologies alongside visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners invests across the Life Sciences value chain as a lead or cornerstone investor, from very early-stage opportunities to late-stage/public companies. It has backed nearly 500 companies over more than 48 years, creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com
About MastOR
MastOR SAS is a Paris-based, early stage medical device company, developing a surgical robot for laparoscopy assistance. It is a privately held portfolio company of Sofinnova Partners, financed through the MD Start III Fund. The core technology is derived from joint research between the ISIR robotics lab at Sorbonne University and Professor Brice Gayet, a world-renowned surgeon and pioneer in minimally-invasive surgery. For more information, please visit: www.mastor-surgical.com
About Gradient Denervation Technologies
Gradient Denervation Technologies develops a device-based minimally invasive solution for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension with technology derived from an invention by clinicians from Stanford University. It is a privately held portfolio company of Sofinnova Partners, financed through the MD Start III Fund and based in Paris, France. For more information, please visit: www.gradientdenervation.com
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200701005947/en/
Link:
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Dubai Chambers Organises Open Dialogue in London to Showcase Dubai’s Competitive Advantages as a Global Business Hub16.6.2026 11:25:00 CEST | Press release
Dubai Chambers organised an open dialogue in London in cooperation with the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) aimed at showcasing Dubai’s competitive advantages as a global business hub to a group of leading British investors. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260616827193/en/ H.E. Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah addresses the audience during the event (Photo: AETOSWire) The event was attended by His Excellency Mohammad Ali Rashed Lootah, President and CEO of Dubai Chambers, together with UK business leaders. Discussions highlighted the key investment opportunities Dubai offers across diverse sectors, as well as the city’s advantages as a hub for the expansion of British companies in the region and globally. The session also outlined the comprehensive support provided by Dubai Chambers to UK investors to ensure the smooth establishment and growth of their businesses in Dubai. The discussions explored how
NIQ and Unlimitail Collaborate to Deliver the Next Generation of Omnichannel Retail Media Insights & Measurement Across Retailers and Countries16.6.2026 11:00:00 CEST | Press release
Enabling advertisers to prove ROI across retailers, markets, and channels with interoperable, AI-powered measurement Retail media investment is accelerating globally, with 67% of CMOs planning to increase spending on retail media networks (RMNs) in 2026. Yet only 53% believe today's RMNs provide adequate measurement and attribution capabilities, highlighting a critical gap in proving true business impact across retailers and markets.* Today, NIQ (NYSE: NIQ), a leading consumer intelligence company, and Unlimitail, a leading retail media network, announced a strategic collaboration designed to help brands and retailers unlock a new era of retail media accountability through advanced measurement, consumer insights, interoperable data infrastructure, and AI-powered analytics. This collaboration will combine Unlimitail's extensive retail media network, which spans 21 countries, 35 retailers, more than 120 retailer websites, and over 250 million loyalty cardholders, with NIQ's industry-lead
Thredd Expands Partnership with ID DISTRIBUTION to Power Next Phase of Employee Benefits and Expense Innovation16.6.2026 11:00:00 CEST | Press release
Paris-based fintech will extend its card program into corporate expense management and support continued European expansion Thredd, the AI-first issuer processing platform, today announced an expanded partnership with ID DISTRIBUTIONthrough its flagship program Vaziva, a leading employee benefits and payments platform, to support its growth beyond consumer payments, into corporate payments, as well as their international expansion. Thredd has worked with ID DISTRIBUTIONsince 2020, supporting the company’s consumer offering in France with physical and digital card issuing and payments processing capabilities. Its Vaziva card program enables companies to digitally manage and distribute multiple types of employee benefits through a single prepaid Mastercard-branded card experience. The program supports convenient, secure card usage for employees to access and use benefits across categories including lunch, gifts, culture, holidays, and travel. With more employers seeking simpler, more dig
Eastnets Launches FinCrime Intelligence Platform to Unify Financial Crime Investigations16.6.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release
Eastnets, a global provider of compliance and payment solutions, today announced the launch of FinCrime Intelligence Platform (FCIP), a new investigation and orchestration layer that helps financial institutions unify financial crime operations, improve investigator productivity and gain a single view of risk across AML, sanctions, KYC and fraud. As financial crime operations grow in complexity, many institutions struggle with fragmented investigation tools and inconsistent workflows. FCIP addresses this challenge by providing a single, governed workspace for managing cases across compliance domains - without replacing existing detection systems. Eastnets’ FinCrime Intelligence Platform delivers centralised case management across AML, sanctions screening and KYC, structured, multi‑level investigative workflows with assistive, explainable AI to support, and not replace, human decision-making, providing full audit trails and management oversight. By consolidating AML, fraud, KYC, and scr
Respond.io Raises $62.5M Series B to Scale AI-Powered Customer Conversations Into North America and Europe16.6.2026 10:00:00 CEST | Press release
62.5M Series B led by Camber Partners, with existing investors participating. Respond.io is profitable with $35M ARR, 169% year-over-year growth, and a 30% profit margin. New capital will fund expansion into and mergers and acquisitions within North America and Europe. Respond.io, a customer conversation management platform, today announced a $62.5 million Series B round led by Camber Partners, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst and existing investors. What respond.io does Respond.io enables mid-market B2C businesses to grow revenue from high volumes of customer chats and calls. It unifies WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, Messenger, LINE, Telegram, WeChat, voice calls, email, web chat and 16 more integrations into a single platform with AI agents, automation, and CRMs. This turns fragmented customer conversations into a measurable revenue engine, purpose-built for real-world scale and complexity. The company serves industries where customers initiate conversations before buying, boo
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom