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
Elliptic Sets the Engineering Bar for On-Chain Risk With “Built for Compliance” Paper as New Rules Take Hold and Banks Launch a Joint Stablecoin1.10.2026 16:40:00 EEST | Press release
Elliptic, the global leader in on-chain risk management, today published Built for compliance, a paper setting out the nine engineering decisions that determine whether an on-chain risk system can support fast, accurate and defensible compliance decisions at agentic scale. Machines are already moving money on their own, at machine speed. Compliance teams now have to make hundreds of thousands of decisions a day, at that same speed. However, many on-chain risk systems were never engineered to support that pace. A compliance system that computes exposure on a schedule delivers stale results. One that defines blockchain coverage loosely enough lets a screening miss exposure entirely. A system that skips testing disaster recovery, a spike or an outage, takes down the customer’s compliance system too. That gap between machine speed and system design is exactly what regulators are now closing. As US regulators put together market-structure regulation, the GENIUS Act's stablecoin rules take h
Andersen Global Enhances Pakistan Legal Presence with New Member Firm1.10.2026 16:30:00 EEST | Press release
Andersen Global strengthens its legal presence in Pakistan as Samdani & Qureshi, a collaborating firm since 2021, rebrands to Andersen Legal in Pakistan and is the latest member firm to join the organization. Headquartered in Islamabad, Andersen Legal in Pakistan advises domestic and international clients, including businesses, investors, financial institutions, public sector entities, development organizations, and individuals, on legal, commercial, and regulatory matters. The firm also handles arbitration and dispute resolution, advising on complex transactions, investments, finance, projects, and contentious matters in Pakistan and across borders. “Our approach is grounded in senior attention, clear communication, and disciplined analysis, with a focus on delivering advice that clients can put into action,” said Nudrat Ejaz Piracha, partner at Andersen Legal in Pakistan. “Joining Andersen Global enables us to build on this approach by drawing on additional capabilities and perspecti
Impartner Releases AI Ecosystem Playbook to Help Organizations Move from AI Experimentation to Execution1.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Impartner, the world’s leading partner revenue orchestration platform, today announced the release of its AI Ecosystem Playbook, a new resource designed to help leaders and teams assess their current AI capabilities, identify areas where AI can support business goals, and develop a practical path to implementation. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261001661549/en/ Impartner’s AI Ecosystem Playbook helps organizations assess AI readiness and identify opportunities to apply AI across PRM 3.0, partner revenue orchestration, and the partner lifecycle. As AI moves from experimentation into everyday operations, companies need more than a collection of potential applications. They need a framework for understanding where they are ready to apply AI, where foundational gaps could limit its impact, and which opportunities should be prioritized. Impartner’s AI Ecosystem Playbook provides guidance through a maturity model,
Whiteford Adds Six Partners in New York City, Expanding its Litigation, International and Corporate Practices1.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Whiteford, Taylor & Preston, a full-service law firm with offices across the East Coast, today announced that six partners from Chambers-rated Lazare Potter Glazer & Moyle LLP have joined Whiteford’s New York office: David E. Potter, James F. Moyle, Johannes K. Gäbel, Jaipat Singh Jain, Anna Pia D. Felix and Jacob Englander. This team expands Whiteford's New York office to more than two dozen attorneys and deepens the firm's commercial and securities litigation, employment, cross-border and corporate capabilities in the New York market. The six partners bring decades of combined experience representing mid-market companies, investment advisers, hedge funds, foreign corporations, entrepreneurs and executives in litigation, regulatory investigations, and complex business transactions. "We are expanding with our clients, our markets and our reputation," said Martin Fletcher, Whiteford's Managing Partner. "This team validates our approach. Whiteford’s platform is designed to help grow and
Skechers Enters Super Shoe Era With Innovative Skechers AERO Elite1.10.2026 15:20:00 EEST | Press release
Skechers is redefining what it means to run fast with the Skechers AERO Elite. The latest addition to the innovative Skechers AERO Series makes its global racing debut today—marking a landmark moment as the performance brand’s first super shoe. Engineered to perform from 5Ks to marathons, the design minimizes weight and maximizes responsiveness, all while delivering Skechers’ signature comfort. The AERO Elite is built to win with the performance runners at any level need to go further, faster, and achieve that next personal record. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261001865320/en/ Introducing the Skechers AERO Elite, the brand’s first super shoe designed for racing. “The Skechers AERO Elite is the culmination of years of elite-level running innovation—our most technically advanced running shoe to date and a direct statement of intent as we look ahead to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles,” said Catherine Zou,
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