Venture capital (VC) firm TVM Capital Life Science recently co-led a $16 million series A financing for Vektor Medical Inc., which has developed an AI-based tool that identifies potential arrhythmia source locations. The funding is part of TVM’s strategy of investing in med-tech companies which have no development risk and offer an exit opportunity in under four years.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said Feb. 14 that it may elevate the threshold for registration of venture capital (VC) funds from $10 million to $12 million, a move that would exempt at least a few med-tech VC funds from registration requirements.

In 2023, med-tech firms garnered a total of $17.68 billion in funding, marking a 53.85% decline from the $38.31 billion raised in 2022 and ranking as the lowest financing year documented by BioWorld MedTech. This decrease follows a 22.3% dip from 2021’s $49.3 billion. The top-value year in med-tech financings remains 2020, recording $59.7 billion, followed by 2021’s $49.3 billion.

Elemind Technologies Inc. may not (yet) be telepathic, but the new company certainly read the mood of investors well as it secured $12 million in seed funding before emerging from stealth this week. While the product has yet to be fully revealed, the company is developing a wearable neurotechnology platform that uses artificial intelligence to read and guide brainwaves using tailored sound stimulation.

The new year kicked off with med-tech deal value in January totaling $107.75 million. By the numbers, January’s 183 deals surpassed the 2023 monthly average of approximately 142 deals per month.

There is no doubt that the fundraising environment in Europe remains challenging for med-tech companies. Currently it seems like “the winner takes it all,” with companies that have de-risked their portfolio able to find investors to provide funds, while for those at the earlier stages, finding capital continues to be ‘tricky,’ Raphaël Wisniewski, partner at European private equity firm Andera Partners, told BioWorld in an interview.