Sensimed AG Raises 17 Million CHF in Series C Financing

Sensimed AG, a Swiss company, has developed a non-invasive soft contact lens-based solution, the SENSIMED Triggerfish that revolutionizes glaucoma management by providing continuous 24-hour intraocular pressure (IOP) profiles as well as modeling and analysis of IOP patterns. The 24-hour IOP profiles, centralized on a registry together with patient and treatment information, are processed by powerful modeling and learning algorithms identifying pathological patterns that can be used to differentiate indication and to personalize treatment. Sensimed is directly positioned at the convergence between devices, treatment and information. The company believes that this global knowledge-building approach will enable ophthalmologists to better improve management of patients with potentially progressive glaucomatous disease.
 
The new financing round was co-led by Wellington Partners, Agate Medical Investments and Vinci Capital/Renaissance PME. It was completed by current shareholders, the Sandoz Family Foundation, ELM Development, and successful entrepreneurs in the medical devices industry.
 
Funds will be used to finalize approval in the US and in China, to extend the commercialization currently restricted to leading centers in about twenty countries to a larger geography, to continue a wide-spectrum of post-marketing application trials, to implement and open the central registry to all users, and to fund on-going operations.
 
“This round of financing follows major breakthroughs in the understanding of 24-hour patterns which broaden significantly the commercial application of our technology,” says Sensimed CEO Jean-Marc Wismer. “It will also enable us to bring those new findings to the market to help doctors better diagnose, discriminate and treat various glaucomatous indications”.
 
Says Patrick Berdoz, Chairman of the Board: “We are happy to complement our shareholder base with investors having a strong track record in life science entrepreneurship and a very large network in the industry”.

Sensimed, based in Lausanne, was founded in 2003 and awarded with the CTI Start-up Label in 2008.