FIT grants CHF 800'000 to SamanTree Medical and OneVisage

The FIT foundation has supported 168 high tech projects in western Switzerland with a total of more than CHF 33 million of financial support. This month, two Lausanne based startups SamanTree Medical and  OneVisage join its portfolio.

Founded in 2014, SamanTree Medical aims to increase the surgical success of cancer treatment. The startup developed “Histolog Scanner” - a breakthrough medical imaging innovation for the operating room, which allows surgeons to evaluate whether a tumor is removed completely removed.

The device aims at decreasing the need for a second operation and improving the patients’ quality of life. The EPFL spinoff has achieved promising clinical results thanks to its CE labeled product. The company is currently raising funds to develop commercial operations for the surgery market, starting with the treatment of breast cancer.

For CEO and co-founder Bastien Rachet, “the support from the FIT is a strong acknowledgment of our technology potential for health professionals and patients. The funds will help us install several devices in clinical practices and accelerate our market entry”.

The second startup, OneVisage is dedicated to strengthening cybersecurity, thanks to its novel biometry solutions. The startup develops unique 3D facial biometry and 3D graphical authentication software solutions, which enable large financial services and cyber-security integrators to reduce cyber-frauds or identity thefts drastically.

The technology of OneVisage offers a higher security level than current pin-code authentication methods. It could well serve more than 3 billion mobile devices users for the cost of a simple password-based product, without the need to remember or enter any security password or pin code.

CEO of OneVisage Christophe Remillet comments, “The FIT loan will help us accelerate our growth at the international level and strengthen our business development team.” OneVisage will soon go live with its first customers and is discussing with strategic Swiss and European investors to scale-up.

(Press release)