Sofinnova Partners Announces Two First Investments from its MD Start III Medtech Acceleration Fund
2.7.2020 08:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Sofinnova Partners, a leading European life sciences venture capital firm based in Paris, London and Milan, announced today the second investment from its MD Start III Fund, a medtech accelerator that actively works with clinicians and entrepreneurs to develop disruptive medical devices. In May 2019, the fund raised €48 million from key institutional investors and has made two seed investments so far: MastOR and Gradient Denervation Technologies. The most recent investment is in MastOR, a French company leveraging its core expertise in surgical robotics to develop enhanced laparoscopic devices to improve the precision and ergonomics of minimally-invasive surgery. The company was founded in 2019 by a renowned pioneer in laparoscopic surgery, Professor Brice Gayet of the Paris-based Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, and entrepreneur, Pierre Campredon.
“The Sofinnova MD Start team is known for its active, hands-on approach to company building,” said Prof. Gayet. “Their strategic and operational expertise is the perfect complement to the years of research and prototyping we have conducted thus far. Together, we will be able to accelerate the development of this game-changing technology and bring it to its full potential.”
MD Start III also invested in Gradient Denervation Technologies in February. The company is developing a medical device for a transvascular treatment of pulmonary hypertension, based on prior research and intellectual property developed at Stanford University. This has been an important area for MD Start, given its focus on interventional cardiology as a very innovation-savvy and fast-adopting medical community.
“These investments exemplify our mission of transforming innovative ideas into medical realities and backing inventors who are developing disruptive concepts for outstanding medical devices and procedures,” said Anne Osdoit, Partner at Sofinnova Partners. “Our network and partnerships have yielded a rich deal flow pipeline and we are confident in the potential for this fund to continue uncovering first-class devices that address major unmet medical needs.”
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm specialized in Life Sciences. Based in Paris, France, with offices in London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of 40 professionals from all over Europe, the U.S. and Asia. The firm focuses on paradigm-shifting technologies alongside visionary entrepreneurs. Sofinnova Partners invests across the Life Sciences value chain as a lead or cornerstone investor, from very early-stage opportunities to late-stage/public companies. It has backed nearly 500 companies over more than 48 years, creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com
About MastOR
MastOR SAS is a Paris-based, early stage medical device company, developing a surgical robot for laparoscopy assistance. It is a privately held portfolio company of Sofinnova Partners, financed through the MD Start III Fund. The core technology is derived from joint research between the ISIR robotics lab at Sorbonne University and Professor Brice Gayet, a world-renowned surgeon and pioneer in minimally-invasive surgery. For more information, please visit: www.mastor-surgical.com
About Gradient Denervation Technologies
Gradient Denervation Technologies develops a device-based minimally invasive solution for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension with technology derived from an invention by clinicians from Stanford University. It is a privately held portfolio company of Sofinnova Partners, financed through the MD Start III Fund and based in Paris, France. For more information, please visit: www.gradientdenervation.com
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200701005947/en/
Contact information
Media Contacts:
Bommy Lee
Head of Communications, Sofinnova Partners
blee@sofinnovapartners.com
+33 (0) 6 47 71 38 11
North America
RooneyPartners LLC
Kate Barrette
kbarrette@rooneyco.com
+1 212 223 0561
France
StrategiesImage
Anne Rein
anne.rein@strategiesimage.com
+33 (0) 6 03 35 92 05
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Interactive Brokers Expands AI Integration Capabilities – Adding ChatGPT and Grok to Its Growing Suite of Agentic Trading Tools22.6.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global broker, today announced the expansion of its agentic trading capabilities with the addition of ChatGPT and Grok, further broadening a growing ecosystem of AI platform integrations that began with Claude. Available through certified AI connector marketplaces across multiple leading platforms, these integrations allow clients to research, analyze, and generate instructions with speed and efficiency to uncover new trading and investing opportunities instantly. With this release, Interactive Brokers also extends the selection of products available for order instructions to include support for options, futures and futures options in addition to equities and ETFs. “We continue to see growing interest from investors in using artificial intelligence as a more natural way to interact with financial markets,” said Milan Galik, Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Brokers. “Adding ChatGPT and Grok, together with support for options and fut
IQM Named Among Quantum Collaborators in HPE's New Hybrid Quantum-HPC Platform22.6.2026 16:22:00 EEST | Press release
Hewlett Packard Enterprise has named IQM Quantum Computers among the companies collaborating on its hybrid classical-quantum computing platform, announced at HPE Discover Las Vegas. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260622035759/en/ IQM Radiance quantum computer at HPE Discover Las Vegas 2026 IQM, a global leader in full-stack superconducting quantum computers, is contributing superconducting quantum processor technology to the effort, in which HPE is integrating multiple quantum modalities with its Cray supercomputing infrastructure. This collaboration strengthens IQM's global expansion plans as the company prepares for its planned Nasdaq listing through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: RAAQ). For IQM, HPE's selection places the company at the center of one of the computing industry's most significant efforts to bring quantum and high-performance computing together, an integration widely rega
Return Abuse Goes Mainstream as Nearly Half of Consumers Use AI in Return Claims, New Riskified Research Finds22.6.2026 15:30:00 EEST | Press release
Riskified (NYSE: RSKD), a global leader in ecommerce fraud detection and risk intelligence, today released a new global report, “Rewriting the Rules on Returns”, exploring how consumer attitudes and behaviors around ecommerce returns are evolving in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The Riskified-commissioned study, conducted by eTail Insights, is based on a survey of 2,091 consumers across seven countries, alongside in-depth interviews with senior leaders from many of the largest retail companies in the world. The research finds that return abuse behaviors are increasingly normalized, while nearly half of consumers already use generative AI tools to assist with return or refund claims. At the same time, merchants are responding by tightening return policies, shortening return windows, and deploying advanced AI detection to better distinguish between legitimate behavior and abuse patterns. Key Findings Nearly half of consumers (50%) report using generative AI tools such as ChatG
Forrester Unveils Agendas For 2026 Technology & Innovation Forums In North America And EMEA22.6.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agendas for its Technology & Innovation Forum Central (Austin, September 14–15, 2026), Technology & Innovation Forum EMEA (London, September 30–October 1, 2026), and Technology & Innovation Forum East (New York City, November 4–5, 2026). This year’s theme, “The IT Singularity,” dives into the new AI era in which AI has become ubiquitous and no longer a competitive advantage on its own. To succeed, technology leaders including chief information officers, chief data officers, and chief AI officers need to integrate AI into their operating models, modernize software development and IT operations, strengthen data and governance practices, and align technology investments with business strategy. Across the Forums, tech leaders and their teams will learn how to scale AI responsibly, accelerate delivery, and strengthen executive confidence in an increasingly autonomous, AI-driven environment. Key sessions include: The AI Voyage — Fr
AdvanCell Establishes U.S. Global Headquarters and Secures Flagship Manufacturing Facility in Greater Boston to Drive Growth Strategy22.6.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release
AdvanCell, a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing innovative targeted alpha therapies for cancer, today announced the establishment of its U.S. Global Headquarters in the Greater Boston area, and the lease of a new 128,000-square-foot facility that will become the Company’s U.S. flagship manufacturing center supporting its long-term growth and commercialization strategy. The expansion marks an important milestone in the Company’s evolution into a U.S.-based radiopharmaceutical company with integrated operations spanning North America and Australia. The investment reflects AdvanCell's strategy to expand its U.S. presence and build the infrastructure needed to support the development and future commercialization of ADVC001 and its Lead-212 targeted alpha therapy pipeline. Located in Greater Boston, the Innovation Park campus owned by IQHQ provides access to a world-class life-science ecosystem, supporting the next phase of the Company’s growth. The Andover facility will
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom