LYON, FRANCE--Biom’Up, a young company specialized in the manufacture of re-absorbable medical devices, announces today that it has raised EUR 6.8 million in new funds from existing shareholders and acquired three new investors: the InnoBio fund, managed by CDC Entreprises under the ‘FSI France Investissement’ program, Viveris Management and OTC Asset Management.
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As a result of the new funding, the new partners join the investors already associated with Biom’Up: Merieux Developpement, SHAM, Sofimac Partners, Aquasourca and L’Ameliane, alongside founders and managers Sylvain Picot (CEO) and Patricia Forest (deputy CEO and scientific director).
“Previous fundraising has enabled us to recruit the first members of the sales force and finance the R&D stages for two new product ranges,” explains Sylvain Picot, CEO of Biom’Up. “The new funds will be used to strengthen the sales team significantly in order to accelerate the roll out of domestic and export sales.”
Biom’Up plans to recruit several additional sales representatives in the coming year for France. On the export side, the company will focus its sales efforts on the US and Europe. At the same time, Biom’Up will finance a phase III clinical trial in Europe and the US for a new innovative range of products targeted at the major markets of surgery and regenerative medicine.
In addition, Biom’Up has implemented a development strategy in the US, filing initial applications (510k) with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and setting up a multi-disciplinary scientific advisory board consisting of recognized opinion leaders in France and the US.
“We are very pleased to support Biom’Up. We are impressed by the positioning and the quality of the products developed by the company,” says Thibaut Roulon, investment director at CDC Entreprises. “The products developed by Biom’Up offer a response to identified medical needs across major markets and meet the expectations of surgeons.”
Since 2009, Biom’Up has been selling its ranges of proprietary products: COVA(TM), a membrane for the prevention of adhesions and controlled healing, in Europe and the US and MATRI(TM) BONE, a bone regeneration matrix, in Europe. These ranges meet a strong demand in markets evaluated at several million euros.
COVA(TM) and MATRI(TM) BONE have proved to be clinically effective and add value for various types of surgery. These two initial ranges provide a new response to the requirements of surgery and regenerative medicine: for example, COVA(TM) makes corrective surgery more secure in cardiac paediatric cases. Its handling and innovative mechanical properties also make it ideal for use in laparoscopy, delivering excellent results, especially in the prevention of adhesions in gastro-intestinal and gynecological surgery.
“The arrival of these new partners, which are highly committed to the life sciences sector, will enable us to cement our development in the European markets and penetrate the US market,” said Sylvain Picot. “This is also reflected in the strengthening of governance bodies within the company, enabling it to draw on experience and shareholder networks.”
Investors:
CDC Entreprises / InnoBio: Thibaut Roulon
Viveris Management: Jerome Feraud
OTC Asset Management: Emmanuelle Deponge
L’Ameliane: Francois-Regis Ory
Aquasourca: Stephane Gay
Merieux Developpement: Paul-Louis Santy
SHAM: Olivier Szymkowiak
Sofimac Partners: Cecile Thebault
Biom’Up advisors:
Legal: Cabinet MAGS AVOCATS (Me Alek Klioua) (http://www.mags-avocats.com).
Industrial Property: Cabinet Regimbeau (Franck Tetaz and Sylvain Thivillier)
Auditors: ODICEO (Frederic Gangolphe and Agnes Lamoine)
Investment advisors:
Legal: new investors: Cabinet ALERION (Me Brouard and Me Werner).
Legal: existing investors: Cabinet PERICLES (Me Bellein)
Industrial Property - new investors: Becker & Associes (Camille Lebrette and Philippe Becker)
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Lloyd and Associates
Andrew Lloyd / Neil Hunter
allo@ala.com / neil@ala.com
Tel : +44 1273 675100
About Biom’Up S.A.
Created in 2005 by Sylvain Picot, Patricia Forest and Dr Christian Gagnieu, Biom’Up is a young and innovative medtech company arising from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquees (INSA) and the Faculte de Pharmacie (Universite Claude Bernard) in Lyon (France). An expert in bio-materials and processing re-absorbable bio-polymers such as collagen, Biom’Up designs, develops and manufactures re-absorbable medical implants for a range of surgical applications from nerve regeneration to cardio-thoracic surgery.
Having developed and manufactured bio-materials for third parties, in 2007 Biom’Up took the step of adopting a proprietary strategy, with the accreditation of two innovative ranges of its own, providing surgeons with new solutions for improving medical services delivered:
COVA(TM) is a membrane for the prevention of adhesions and controlled healing, combining unique mechanical properties with the benefit of a re-absorbable bio-compatible product. The COVA(TM) membrane is used with success in gastro-intestinal and cardio-thoracic surgery, orthopaedic surgery to the extremities, spinal, dental and implant surgery.
MATRI(TM) BONE is a malleable and stable bone regeneration matrix that is extremely practical to use. MATRI(TM) BONE is used in orthopaedic, maxillo-facial, dental and implant surgery.
Biom’Up employs 27 people, including eight engineers and three doctors. In addition to selling its proprietary ranges, the company invests in the development of new ranges of innovative medical devices and bio-materials to deliver improved care to patients and meet the needs of surgeons in the field of regenerative medicine. The aim is to develop new solutions enabling surgeons to make surgery safer and reduce post-operative complications.
Contact: Sylvain Picot, CEO, sylvain.picot@biomup.com, http://www.biomup.com
About Aquasourca
Founded in 1996 by Sophie Defforey, Aquasourca is a family office with ten or so staff and offices in Lyon and Luxembourg.
Aquasourca invests in France and abroad in the form of equity totalling between EUR 3M to EUR 10M per investment, in profitable mature companies across a range of business sectors (industry, services, distribution, healthcare…) and investments in expansion capital, LBO, capital replacement, OBO, etc.
Having supported over 120 businesses since it was founded, Aquasourca now has forty or so holdings in its portfolio companies.
Contact: Stephane Gay, http://www.aquasourca.com
About CDC Entreprises / InnoBio
CDC Entreprises, a management company accredited by the AMF, is controlled by the Caisse des Depots. It is in charge of managing the public equity financing programme for SME growth, FSI France Investissement and public interest initiatives of the Caisse des Depots group in the capital investment sector for SMEs. Within this remit, CDC Entreprises manages the investments of the Caisse des Depots and the FSI, which is its number one subscriber. It also manages capital for public and private partnerships, financial and industrial partnerships. To this end, CDC Entreprises manages on behalf of the state, under the Investment for the Future programme, the national fund for priming the SME section of the National Funds for Digital Society, DSF SMEs and the Ecotechnologies fund.
CDC Entreprises is a major player in terms of equity financing for bio-technology companies in France. Under the programme ‘FSI France Investissement’, it is involved in financing most of the French sector-based funds dedicated to life sciences. It is also the management company for InnoBio, an FCPR of EUR 139 million, underwritten by the FSI (37 per cent) and the major pharmaceutical laboratories (Sanofi Aventis, GSK, Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, Lilly, Ipsen, Takeda, Boehringer-Ingelheim). InnoBio operates over national territory. The main aim of the fund is to invest directly in equity and quasi-equity capital of companies supplying innovative product and service technology in the healthcare sector. Made up of a team of investors specialising in the sector and headed by Laurent Arthaud, InnoBio has implemented ten investments to date.
Press contact: Nathalie Police – nathalie.police@cdcentreprises. fr – Tel: 01 58 50 73 02 – http://www.cdcentreprises.fr
About Merieux Developpement
Merieux Developpement is the investment company of Institut Merieux, a French industrial group specializing in the healthcare sector and currently employing 11,000 people around the world via its subsidiaries bioMerieux (NYSE Euronext, BIM), Merieux Nutrisciences, Transgene (NYSE Euronext, TNG) and Advanced Bioscience Laboratories. Merieux Developpement plans to invest EUR 70 million in the healthcare sector between 2010 and 2014 in support of entrepreneurs and innovative companies whose products and services represent real progress in terms of the health of patients throughout the world.
Contact: Paul-Louis Santy, http://www.merieux-developpement.com
About OTC Asset Management
Created in 2001, OTC Asset Management is a capital investment management company accredited by the AMF that manages over EUR 430 million via its investment vehicles.
It uses its expertise to finance companies from all business sectors that make up the economic fabric of France, providing them with the funds required for their development and sustaining growth. To date, OTC Asset Management has financed over 110 businesses that have doubled their turnover and increased their staff by 50 per cent.
Contact: Emmanuelle Deponge, http://www.otcam.com
About Sham
Created in 1927, Sham is a mutual insurance company specialising in risk management for players in the healthcare and socio-medical sectors. Sham is the number one medical civil liability insurer in France. It has 5,947 members – individual and corporate – and manages EUR 1.4 billion in assets invested in a range of media. Through its global approach to risk management, Sham offers its members ranges of insurance and services that are fully tailored to their specific requirements Sham employs 270 people and achieved a turnover of EUR 296.9M in 2011. Since 2007, Sham has been investing in young and innovative companies in the healthcare sector.
Contact: Olivier Szymkowiak, http://www.sham.fr
About SOFIMAC Partners
For 35 years, SOFIMAC Partners has been specializing in investment business involving unlisted companies in the south west quadrant of France. Societe de Gestion Sofimac Partners manages EUR 220 million in assets through a range of different investment vehicles such as FCPR, FIP and SCR and covering all business areas: seed capital, venture capital, capital development, transmission capital and turnaround. Its activity is structured around a capital development division for industry and services and a technology division aimed at healthcare and bio-technology. Amongst other roles, it manages a fund invested in bio-medical technology in the Sillon Rhone-Alpin-Italie du Nord region, and has just announced raising inter-regional multi-sector seed fund - FCPR Emergence Innovation 1
Contact: Cecile Thebault, http://www.sofimacpartners.com
About Viveris Management
Created in 2000, Viveris Management is a leading French third party capital investment fund manager, and has developed a multi-regional approach dedicated to unlisted SMEs.
Supported by a strong investment team and spread across seven locations in France, overseas and the Mediterranean (Morocco and Tunisia), the company supports businesses, business leaders and potential buyers at all stages of development across the main sectors of the capital investment market: regional and national technology venture capital, capital development capital and transmission capital/leveraged buy out, with a majority or minority stake.
The company currently manages a range of 35 investment vehicles in addition to the 46 it has had involvement in, including public funds (FCPI, FIP), and qualified investors (FCPR with simplified procedures) alike. As at June 30, 2012, this represented EUR 585M managed for 256 investments since it began.
Since 1 January, 2012, Viveris Management has belonged to the ACG, one of the main capital investment players, managing EUR 1.5 billion in assets through its management companies ACG Private Equity, Viveris Management, Sigma Gestion and IPSA.
Contact: Jerome Feraud, http://www.viverismanagement.com
