HypnoVR secures €700K in seed funding

Strasbourg, France, June 13, 2018 – HypnoVR, specialists in developing virtual reality-based medical hypnosis solutions to manage pain and stress, today announces it has secured funding to the value of €700K (approx. $830k) from lead investors Guillaume Richard, founder and chairman of OuiCare, Daniel Caille, founder and chairman at Vivalto Santé Holding and La Javaness, start-up accelerator specialized in AI, who were joined by Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, and several business angels.

HypnoVR founders Dr. Denis Graff and Dr. Chloé Chauvin, both of whom are medical doctors and anesthesiologists, have a combined 20 years of experience in medical hypnosis. They have been joined by Nicolas Schaettel who brings over 15 years of business and technology expertise to the team.

This funding, a combination of cash and work for equity investment, will enable HypnoVR to pursue product development and reinforce its sales and marketing team. In September 2018, the company will bring to market its medical hypnosis virtual reality solution designed to improve the management of patient pain, stress and anxiety by providing an alternative and complementary solution to chemical treatments. Using commercially available virtual reality headsets such as Oculus Rift or Samsung Gear, HypnoVR’s solution places the patient into an intense multisensory tridimensional immersion experience. The technology, which is in the final stages of obtaining a class 1 medical device CE marking, is currently being used in applications for pediatric surgery, gastroenterology, gynecology and dental surgery.

“HypnoVR is excited to be joined by such a diverse group of investors, bringing a broad spectrum of experience in healthcare, finance and industry,” said Nicolas Schaettel, president and co-founder at HypnoVR. “We are on a mission to bring the benefits of medical hypnosis to the widest number of patients to enable faster recovery, better pain management, lower stress and less anxiety. Following successful clinical trials, where 90% of patients responded with positive feedback, our team is prepped and ready to launch our first product in September 2018.”

Around five billion people worldwide lack access to surgical and anesthetic care, most of whom are in lower income countries. HypnoVR’s medical device for hypno sedation aims to improve the quality of care and comfort for patients and to optimize pre- and post-operative rehabilitation by decreasing chemical therapy and its side effects. HypnoVR aims to bring its solution to the largest possible number of patients.

“HypnoVR offers healthcare facilities and personnel a supplementary and beneficial therapeutic tool that facilitates the day-to-day duties of patient care,” says Guillaume Richard, founder and CEO of OuiCare. ”This careful consideration for the well-being of others is one of the key values we pay close attention to at OuiCare.”

Additional investors include business angels Maurice Berenger, CEO of CardioRenal, Guy Paillaud, president of the family office Financière de l’Intendance and Jérôme Dillard, former CEO of TF1 Shopping, former managing director of B2S and former head of diversifications at M6 among others. French Law firm MLA Conseils served as legal advisors.

“What convinced me to invest in HypnoVR is the combination of complementary skills in medical activity and business expertise and the experience of the founders,” said Maurice Berenger, CEO of CardioRenal, one of the business angels on this funding. “It has the opportunity to make the proven benefits of medical hypnosis globally accessible to patients, doctors and health institutions.”

A triple award winner at the Hackathon, Hacking Healthcamp in Strasbourg in 2016, HypnoVR is about to enter a new round of clinical studies with a major university hospital center as well as a partnership with Euridol, a French graduate school specialized in pain research.

About HypnoVR

HypnoVR specializes in developing virtual reality-based medical hypnosis solutions to manage pain and stress. It designs, develops and markets software applications and medical devices as innovative tools of hypnosedation to improve the quality of care and comfort of patients. It optimizes the pre- and post-operative rehabilitation by decreasing chemical therapy and its side effects. This leads to beneficial results following post-operative hospital stays and lowers healthcare costs. HypnoVR was founded in 2016 in Strasbourg (France) by anesthetists and hypnotherapists Denis Graff, Chloé Chauvin and Nicolas Schaettel. Bpifrance, the French public investment bank, the Region Grand Est and the Alsace BioValley competitiveness cluster also support the company, which is incubated at SEMIA.

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