M2care, a venture studio dedicated to Healthtech, raises €20M to accelerate the creation and development of 8 innovative projects.
Paris / Lyon / Aix en Provence, December 17 – M2care, the venture studio specializing in Healthtech, announces a first closing of a €20 million fundraising round. This amount constitutes M2care’s first investment round within V4Health and will finance the creation and development of eight innovative healthcare projects.
M2care, European venture studio specializing in Healthtech, was created at the initiative of Mérieux Developpement and CEA Investissement.
This first fundraising of €20 million is the result of an alliance between leading industrial players (Institut Mérieux via Mérieux Developpement, Institut NAOS des sciences de la vie), a renowned banking institution (Crédit Agricole Centre-Est), and Family Offices.
Their common ambition is to bring forth innovation in healthcare for the benefit of patients, for present and future generations.
Thanks to this fundraising, M2care will be able to finance the creation and development of eight innovative projects in the Healthtech, born from French and European universities and research institutes, as well as technology transfer acceleration companies (SATTs).
These actors provide M2care – as well as the projects supported by the venture studio – with their respective networks. They all together build up a unique ecosystem to accelerate the development of cutting-edge technologies that will address the most crucial public health needs and promote French innovation.
Their common goal is to transform ideas and technologies born in laboratories into marketable healthcare products to improve public health.
M2care has already invested in three projects, currently co-developed alongside the founders:
• Previa Medical, a company that has developed a digital medical device designed to predict and prevent medical emergencies in the hospital environment ;
• TheraSonic, developing a medical device based on the use of ultrasound to improve the treatment of cerebral diseases ;
• Rhovica Neuroimaging, which is developing a ventricular drainage catheter with integrated sensors to optimize the treatment for emergency patients at risk of increased intracranial pressure.
Florence Thueux, President and CEO of M2care, says : « I look forward to contributing to the emergence and development of healthtech innovation alongside our industrial and institutional partners, and I sincerely thank our investors for their confidence. »
Raphaël Appert, CEO of Crédit Agricole Centre-Est, says : « Supporting healthcare innovation for the benefit of patients and future generations is at the heart of our mutual banking model. Through our investment in V4Health, we are strengthening our position as a leading health player in France, alongside our partner Institut Mérieux, for the benefit of all. »
Alexandre Mérieux, President of Mérieux Développement, says : « True to its commitment to public health, Institut Mérieux and Mérieux Développement are pleased to contribute, within M2Care, to the development of innovative solutions that will benefit patients and healthcare professionals tomorrow. »
Alexandre Dhuiege, President of Institut NAOS des Sciences de la Vie, says : « Above all, this is a human story, a long-standing relationship with Florence Thueux and the Mérieux family. The Institut NAOS des Sciences de la Vie works to promote Health as defined by the WHO. Although the core of our work focuses on dermatology according to our ecobiological vision, it seemed natural and relevant to us to contribute to the creation of this fund by supporting researchers in this crucial start-up phase. »
About M2care – www.m2.care
M2care is a European venture studio specializing in Healthtech. M2care founds, develops, and finances innovative projects at early stages of maturity, alongside project leaders. M2care is an essential link between academics, investors, and industry. M2care supports innovative project leaders with an experienced and complementary team of “entrepreneurs in residence,” a powerful international network, and ad-hoc ecosystems built to meet everyone’s needs.
About Institut Mérieux – Mérieux Développement
Through Mérieux Développement, Institut Mérieux – a global leader in diagnostics, immunotherapy, food safety and health investment – supports innovative projects, thus bringing its entrepreneurial vision, bioindustrial experience, and international network to serve the medicine of tomorrow.
About CEA Investissement
CEA Investissement, which has been involved with M2care since its inception, is renewing its commitment to supporting the teams behind these projects and giving them the benefit of its expertise in the development of technological innovations.
About Institut NAOS des Sciences de la Vie
The Institut NAOS des Sciences de la Vie is an advanced and independent research entity in ecobiology. Its mission is to invent and develop high technologies in the fields of skin biology, dermatology and aesthetics. Its challenge is to develop “next-generation” products serving health. Thus, it creates partnerships or alliances with researchers or inventive start-ups to bring new components, medical devices or dermatological or aesthetic products to market. It also aims to support academic research serving the common good. The Institut NAOS des Sciences de la Vie is owned by a non-profit endowment fund that acts in favor of human potential. Thus, it operates within an Altruistic Purpose Organization that places the person (heart/body/mind) at the center of all its decisions.
About Crédit Agricole Centre-est – https://ca-centrest.com/
Le Crédit Agricole Centre-Est, the leading financier of the region’s economy, joins the project as an investor, with the aim of promoting at both regional and national level, the medical innovations that will make tomorrow’s industrial champions. Crédit Agricole Centre-Est is a key player in its region in supporting innovation, thanks to its Village by CA, which accelerates start- ups and supports businesses in their development through innovation, and its CA Création investment fund, which invests in start-ups at the seed/Series A phase, 1/3 of which are in the health sector.
PRESS CONTACTS :
M2care :
EKNO Agency – Coradine Sersiron – coradine.sersiron@ekno.fr – +33 (0)6 23 84 70 44
Crédit Agricole Centre-est :
Aurélie Bellemin – aurelie.bellemin@ca-centrest.fr
