The imaging and advanced guidance for workflow optimization in interventional oncology consortium (IMAGIO) consortium of clinical partners in the EU, led by Royal Philips NV, has been awarded $26 million under the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) to carry out research into less invasive cancer therapies.

Vivolta BV raised €7 million ($US7.56 million) in new financing from existing shareholders and the Dutch government to expand its Medispin platform, an automated medical electrospinning production system, for high-throughput manufacturing of tubular electrospun products such as vascular stent grafts and prosthetic heart valves. The funds will also allow the company to continue to evolve into a medical electrospinning contract development and manufacturing organization as it transitions away from an equipment manufacturer.

Sirius Medical BV reported successfully closing a $13 million series B round to develop its tumor localization technology. This round was led by Holland Capital Management BV, with support from existing investor BOM Capital BV – through their vehicle, Brabant Ventures – along with Curie Capital BV and Team Holmium BV, plus major investment from Sirius Medical’s management and team. Norgine Ventures Management Ltd., joined as a new investor in this round.

Vitestro Holding BV reported raising $12.7 million in series A financing round to develop the world’s first autonomous blood drawing device. This round was led by Sonder Capital Inc., alongside existing investors and new angel investors with experience in the clinical laboratory and med-tech industry. “Thanks to this fundraising, we are going to accelerate the product development, prepare EU marketing authorization, and initiate production,” Toon Overbeeke, CEO and co-founder of Vitestro, explains to BioWorld.

Thirona BV spun out its retina division into a stand-alone business, Thirona Retina BV, focused exclusively on the eye disease market, effective Jan. 1, 2023. The development comes after the recent expansion of Retcad, Thirona’s flagship solution for eye disease screening. Thirona BV will continue to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-driven systems for precision medicine in lung disease.

Onward Medical NV reported clinical outcomes for the first 10 patients given therapy to regulate blood pressure using its implantable ARC technology. This pulse generator produced an immediate improvement in blood pressure regulation in all study participants.

Enzyre BV reported closing a $12.5 million series A round to ramp development of its micro diagnostics platform used for monitoring blood coagulation status at home.

Xeltis BV raised $15 million in series D2 funding to develop its restorative vascular access device for patients with chronic kidney disease who are on hemodialysis. The investment in this technology, called the Axess graft, came from Hong Kong-based China Grand Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Holdings Ltd. (Grand Pharma). The deal focuses mainly on commercializing Axess, but also involves other new products in the field of hemodialysis developed as part of the Xeltis technology platform. The commitment from Grand Pharma includes equity investment and product licensing, representing Xeltis’ first commercial deal and its first funding from an Asian concern.

Envision Technologies BV’s latest artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses for the blind and visually impaired are designed to help with reading, scanning faces and navigating everyday tasks. This visual assistant was introduced at California State University Northridge (CSUN) 2022 Assistive Technology Conference. Envision has updated its AI-based platform and ecosystem with improved optical character recognition (OCR) and better text recognition with contextual intelligence.