Dublin-based Altach Biomedical Ltd, a healthtech company backed by Amsterdam’s NLC, has secured €1.2M in fresh funding. The company will use the funds to improve treatments for articular cartilage injuries, a major cause of osteoarthritis.
The funding came from various investors, including those from a crowdfunding campaign on Spark Crowdfunding, NLC’s Stepping Stone Fund, Castanjo B.V., and two individual angel investors.
NLC Health Ventures aims to improve healthcare accessibility for all. Jola Danaj, Investment Manager at NLC, says, “Altach’s scaffolds represent a significant leap forward in the ability to treat cartilage lesions. This technology reduces the need for invasive surgeries, lowering healthcare costs and improving outcomes for patients.”
“We are excited to support Altach as they progress towards clinical trials and eventual commercialisation.”
Capital utilisation
The funds will help Altach’s technology get closer to being ready for the market, ultimately benefiting patients with cartilage injuries.
Dr. David Browe, Altach’s CTO and one of the inventors, says, “Over a decade of research and development has already been conducted on the Altach product, taking the technology from initial proof of concept studies to pre-clinical evaluation.”
“We have already met several key development milestones, including the recent granting of our US patent, however, this funding will now allow us to scale up manufacturing and validate our product in advance of clinical use.”
A regenerative cartilage technology
Founded by David Browe and Tomir Kosowski in 2022 as a spin-out from Trinity College Dublin, Altach aims to tackle one of the toughest problems in orthopaedics.
According to the company, over many years, different therapies, including surgery, have been tried to fix damaged knee cartilage, aiming to make it as close to normal as possible. But none have perfectly matched healthy cartilage.
There are several treatment options for cartilage damage, but there’s no agreed-upon standard treatment.
Altach is working on a range of special scaffolds made with Type II collagen, which is like the building blocks of natural cartilage. These scaffolds can be used alone or with other cell therapies. They help the patient’s cells grow back the cartilage.
CEO Kosowski, says, “Our technology marks a significant advancement in how we treat articular cartilage injuries. Our scaffolds could reduce recovery times and increase the quality of healing, profoundly improving patients’ daily lives.”
Altach’s solutions can treat both small cartilage problems and larger ones.
NLC secured €14M to back healthcare innovations
NLC Health Ventures aims to improve healthcare accessibility for all. Through a scalable entrepreneurial approach, it identifies, develops, and backs ventures with the potential to benefit patients.
The firm directly backs its investees or channels support through its four funds. With a focus on biotech, medtech, green health, and digital health, NLC has invested in over 100 innovations to date.
In March 2024, NLC Health Ventures raised €14M from private investors and family offices, to back between 80 and 90 ventures.
Brief about The Stepping Stone Fund (SSF)
Established in late 2020, The Stepping Stone Fund (SSF) is a project by NLC aimed at boosting the growth of “promising” healthtech startups. With €10.8M in funding, SSF aims to support 40 ventures developed under NLC.
This strategic fund allows investors to get involved from the start, contributing to and benefiting from the ventures’ value creation. SSF uses a three-tiered financing approach, ensuring ongoing support for successful ventures during the crucial early stages of development.
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