Robocath raises €4.7 million ($5.2M) to market its first medical robotic platform, R-one™, in 2018

Rouen, May 18, 2017 – Robocath, a medical robotics start-up that designs and develops innovative solutions for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, today announces the conclusion of a new round of fundraising worth €4.7 million ($5.2M). This round was led by M Capital and Normandie Participations. It also involved past investors Go Capital and NCI, who have been supporting the company since 2013. Robocath has already succeeded in raising a total of €1.8 million ($2M) in 2013 and 2015, to which Bpifrance and others added €1.6 million ($1.8M) of public aid.

Currently at the manufacturing stage and in the process of obtaining the CE mark, the company’s first robotic platform, the R-one™, represents a major step forward in interventional cardiology. By improving patient care and drastically reducing physicians’ exposure to X-rays, which currently cause some serious diseases[1], R-one benefits the whole health care system.

In practice, this fully integrated robotics platform covered by 20 families of international patents allows physicians to manage their instruments remotely from a control panel close to the operating table. It is a sophisticated tool based on two major technologies: R-grasp^®, which exactly reproduces hand movements (rotation and simultaneous movement), and SecurAccess^®, which provides stability and security during the medical procedure.

The R-one platform has already earned some very promising feedback, primarily thanks to its ease-of-use. The fast-growing global market for the device is worth an estimated $5 billion[2] (€4.5Bn).

Philippe Bencteux, chairman and founder of Robocath, said: “The whole team and I would like to thank our historical shareholders, Go Capital and NCI, for their renewed support, our bank partners BNP Paribas and La Caisse d’Epargne, and our new institutional shareholders for their strong buy-in to our plans. This new funding will help us to achieve a decisive milestone in our development strategy. R-one is currently the only robotic assistance platform for interventional cardiology developed in Europe. We plan to build on this technological edge to enter the European market next year. Given our many strengths, we will also continue to design sophisticated robotics solutions, helping to usher in a new era of medicine to benefit physicians and patients.”

About Robocath

Founded in 2009 by neuroradiologist Dr. Philippe Bencteux, Robocath designs and develops innovative, high value-added robotic solutions to improve the management of the endovascular procedures performed in the treatment of cardiovascular diseases. Of these diseases, heart attack is the leading cause of deaths worldwide[3].

The winner of the TechInnov European Prize in 2015, as a result of its unique technological knowhow, Robocath is contributing to the growth in simpler, safer and especially intuitive micro-invasive procedures, benefiting physicians, patients and health care facilities alike.

Its first robotics solution, R-one™, is currently in the approval phase and will be marketed from 2018, mainly in Europe and the Middle East. Its US launch is anticipated in 2019. Covered by more than 20 families of international patents, the R-one platform enables medical instruments to be handled remotely in interventional cardiology (coronarography and angioplasty) and is compatible with standard equipment.

Robocath is based at a dedicated health care cluster in Rouen, France and is involved in the Medicen Paris Region and Cap Digital competitiveness clusters. The company employs around 20 staff.

www.robocath.com

About M Capital

M Capital Partners is an independent and entrepreneurial French investment and financing company. It is a one stop shop offering equity and quasi equity to entrepreneurs, as well as ongoing guidance to help speed up their growth.

www.mcapitalpartners.fr

About Normandie Participations

Normandie Participations is a financing body attached to the AD Normandie development agency. It is a regional structure that acquires equity stakes in companies based in Normandy. Built on a model of co-investment with private finance, Normandie Participations uses capital raised entirely in the region to provide companies with capital to assist with starting up, innovation, development, transmission and turn-around. The fund was put in place in September 2016 and will be provided with €100 million ($110M) between now and 2019.

www.normandieparticipations.fr

About Go Capital

Investment fund management company Go Capital has almost €150 million ($165M) under management through professional private equity funds (Fonds professionnels de capital investissement, FPCI) and innovation-focused mutual funds (Fonds communs de placement dans l’innovation, FCPI) which prioritize high-growth potential companies in the health care, medical, technology (hardware and software), digital and innovative services sectors.

www.gocapital.fr

About NCI

NCI is a major player in regional investment capital, investing skills and equity in business creation, development and transfer projects, and combining finance and economic development in the high-potential region of Normandy.

www.n-ci.com

[1] Brain and neck tumors among physicians performing interventional procedures (2013) / Risk of cancer from occupational exposure to ionising radiation (2015)

[2] Company estimate

[3] Source: OMS, factsheet 310, 2016