Abionic closes CHF 3.8 million Series B financing round

Abionic was founded in 2010 as a spin-off from the Ecole Polytechnique Federate de Lausanne (EPFL). The company already closed a Series A financing round of CHF 3.5 million in 2012 and used the proceeds to finalize the development of the abioSCOPE and to obtain the European conformity (CE mark). This new Series B financing round of CHF 3.8 million will allow the company to obtain the American certification FDA 510k and start the commercialization of its first products in 2015. The round, led by MedHoldings SA, was also funded by several local investors including BlueOcean Ventures, NE Holding, Drexel Morgan & Co, and several business angels.

Abionic's nanotechnology, based on nanofluidics, is revolutionizing the way allergy testing is performed by providing quantitative results from a single drop of blood within 20 minutes. The system consists of a portable reader and disposable capsules to be plugged onto a CD-like support. Abionic is currently running a clinical test phase, aiming at a European launch of its first allergy tests in 2015.

Abionic also announced today that Mrs. Martine Reindle and Mr. Urs Amstutz were nominated members of the Board of Directors. Martine is a serial entrepreneur with extensive experience in managing companies and Urs is the Founder and former CEO of Stallergènes Switzerland, a leading company in oral allergy treatment. Urs is a great asset in bringing into Abionic his allergy in-vitro diagnostic market insight and network.

"It's a great pleasure to join a team that will revolutionize the in-vitro diagnostic field by providing patients an immediate quantitative answer. And it will be a nice challenge to bring this young Swiss company through internationalization" said Martine Reindle.

"I'm very pleased to contribute to such an innovative and motivated team that Abionic consists of" added Urs Amstutz. "I'm convinced and confident of promising results within the coming months."

Walid N. Hanna, Managing Partner and Director at Medholdings SA, added: "In a relatively short period of time, the Abionic Team has turned a very innovative platform technology into a commercial product with compelling clinical results and significant market potential. We are excited to continue to support such a "technology champion" through its commercial roll out".

About the abioSCOPE allergy diagnostics platform
Abionic has developed a portable biomedical device (the abioDISC and abioSCOPE) that has the potential to revolutionize the diagnostics of allergies. The abioDISC is based on Abionic's proprietary nanofluidic biosensor technologies and has been designed to detect allergies such as pollen, food and allergies to various domestic animals. The abioSCOPE, a CE-marked reading system that received the "Swiss Excellence Product" award in 2013, is an autonomous device that reads the abioDISC biosensors, and provides an allergy diagnostic result within 20 minutes based on a single drop of blood. It is the low quantity of blood, the speed and quality of the results that has the potential to revolutionize allergy diagnostics.

About Abionic
Abionic was incorporated as a Swiss SA (Societe Anonyme) in September 2010 by Dr. Nicolas Durand, CEO, Dr. Iwan Marki, CTO and Prof. Theo Lasser, a world expert in biomedical optics and professor at the EPFL (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne), and has its headquarters based in Lausanne. Switzerland. Strongly supported by the Canton de Vaud (SPECo & Innovaud), the Fondation pour I'lnnovation Technologie (FIT) and Venturelab, the company is ideally positioned at the junction between medical technology, biotechnology and nanotechnology. Abionic uses the most advanced technology to supply physicians with a novel diagnostic tool and thereby providing patients with personal allergy profiles. In 2012 the company finalized a Series A financing round, obtained a FIT early loan in 2013 and now a Series B financing for a total of CHF 7.8 million. The company received the ISO 9001:13485 certification and is the record winner of no less than 20 prestigious start-up awards. Abionic aims to become an important international player in the field of personalized allergy testing.

About MedHoldings
MedHoldings SA is a Lausanne based Private Equity and Venture Capital investment company, focusing primarily on development and late stage Medtech ventures in Switzerland, Europe and Emerging Markets. It supports innovative technologies and solutions, that target unmet medical needs, provide efficiency and reduce cost of care.

About Blue Ocean Ventures
BlueOcean Ventures is providing capital, operating and other value adding resources to entrepreneurs in Switzerland and neighboring regions. BlueOcean's privileged access to Swiss technology centers of excellence helps identify at an early stage the best "hi-tech-hi-growth" investment opportunities. Funds are provided by private individuals attracted by the potential and reputation of Swiss-made products and achievements, as well as Family offices eager to benefit from a high-return asset category in a safe environment. BlueOcean Ventures has its offices in Geneva (Switzerland).