As medical developments zoom ahead, it’s increasingly the startups that are leading the charge. From young teams springing out of Europe’s best medical universities, to entrepreneurs twinning up with expert clinical practitioners who have found a problem to solve, there is no shortage of European medtech startups that are revolutionizing healthcare.
Having done an analysis of the market, including funding rounds, team growth and level of innovation, we’ve put together this list of 10 medtech startups that solve problems like bacterial antibiotic resistance, dementia patients care, tailored treatments for inflammatory diseases, breast cancer detection, and many more that the current medical industry is facing.
CereGate – This amazing startup is focusing on developing new ways of interfacing with the human brain through the latest technology. Their mission is to provide patients with neurological disorders or sensory deficits, with new opportunities to adapt and improve their condition under their own power. Aiming to increase patient independence while improving quality of life, as well as the development of the system for new indications in stroke rehabilitation, neuroprosthetics, and computer/brain-interfacing. Founded in 2019 based in Munich, Germany, In January 2020 received a Seed capital investment.
Qare – Qare, founded in 2016 in France, Qare is a unique on-demand, online-to-offline, virtual medical practice. It provides French residents in London with an unlimited access, seven days a week, to an exclusive network of French medical professionals, GPs and specialists based both in France and the UK. Adding a more personal touch, it’s services are also available via video but if required, also include home visits and appointments with French doctors. With over 12 specialities covered, Qare is the first telemedicine platform to offer an innovative and holistic health service to the French-speaking community based in London. In April last year, the startup landed an investment of €20 million.
Elsa Science – Elsa, founded in 2017 and based in Stockholm, is a platform for patient driven research for better drugs, health and prevention. Elsa lets patients become their own personal researchers by providing them with a better understanding around how lifestyle factors may affect their disease activity measurements for rheumatoid arthritis. To support them from a scientific perspective, Elsa gives them access to data on rheumatic disease through the Riskminder foundation and scientific studies at Karolinska Institutet. Through this data they will be able to see, among other things, how the prognosis of their disease is affected by medication adherence and lifestyle factors.
Ambuliz – Based in Rennes, France, this startup deploys a medical transport regulatory platform, bringing together establishments, medical transport professional and patients. Their aim is to provide an efficient and fluid experience while offering a transparent and responsible model to the involved players, solving the problem of patient flows for establishments, carriers, and patients. Founded in 2018, in February 2020 they raised a seed round of €1.1 million to become the benchmark for transport and logistics in the European healthcare industry.
Kheiron Medical Technologies – Early detection of breast cancer is crucial to improve the patient’s life. This Startup is using advanced machine learning technologies to provide intelligent tools for radiologists. Combining new deep learning methods, data science, and radiology insights, they’re helping doctors find malignancies in mammograms, with state-of-the-art detection support in breast cancer screening. Founded in 2016 and London based, closed a Series A round in September 2019 of €20 million.
Sensome – Many medical procedures like treatment for ischemic stroke, or interventional cardiology and oncology, use a set of devices to improve their results. This startup is focused on including micro-sensor technology on those invasive medical devices that enable connectivity with other healthcare machines, with the aim of identifying biological tissues upon contact with unequaled predictive reliability. They are pioneers in the connected medical revolution with the world’s smallest biological tissue sensor. Founded in 2014 and based in Massy, France, in January 2020 they closed a Series B round of €9 million.
Resistell – One of the biggest challenges the medical industry is facing is the antibiotic resistance of bacteria, with the potential to become a health issue for humans in the near future. This startup has proposed and developed a new approach to determine bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which significantly reduces time to results, and therefore benefits the patients and healthcare systems. Their proposal is an alternative to the current gold standard in antibiotic susceptibility testing. The method shortens the time needed for this test from days to hours, as it does not rely on bacterial growth, becoming a game-changer for everyone involved. Founded in 2018 and based in Muttenz, Switzerland, in December 2019 they’ve raised a Series A round of €3.6 million.
Loci Orthopaedics – This Irish startup has become a multi-award winning medical device company, specializing in the development of orthopedic technologies to meet unmet clinical needs in the extremities space. The team has developed a new surgical implant for patients with arthritis in their thumb base joint, improving the quality of previous and existing solutions for patients. This is a medical condition that impairs the ability to do simple tasks with the thumb like turning keys or operating a mobile phone. Their solution enables patients to recover movement and independence. Founded in 2017 and based in Galway, Ireland, they’ve recently received a grant from the European Commission of €2.8 million.
Sanity Group – Based in Berlin and founded in 2017, Sanity Group is holistic European Cannabis company focusing on health, wellbeing and scientific research. Its team believes in breaking people’s perceptions about medical cannabis use, by unlocking the potential of cannabinoids to develop innovative cannabinoid-based pharmaceuticals and wellbeing products. It’s fully licensed and is currently operational with two business units, Sanatio Pharma, a medical cannabis company devoted to the development of new therapies and pharmaceuticals, and wellness brand, VAAY. In February of this year, the startup raised 20.1 million Series A funding, catapulting them into the lead of this up-and-coming industry.
Endostart – This company has developed an innovative system, which is an accessory for the colonoscopy procedure that ensures the endoscope is safe, fast and easy progressive in the large intestine, ensuring higher colonoscopy completion rate, lower need for general anesthesia, lower colonic walls stress, and lower healthcare costs. Working as a magnetic anchor that guides the device through the intestine makes difficult colonoscopies easier to complete. Founded in 2018 and based in Certaldo, Italy they’ve in December 2018 closed a Seed round of €1 million.
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