Hemotune raises 5.1 million Swiss francs

Hemotuneannounced that is has closed a Series A financing round, raising 5.1 million Swiss francs. The financing round was led by the Zug-based venture capital firm Occident, and the investors included the South Korean medtech company Greencross Medical Science Corp. and Zürcher Kantonalbank.

Hemotune, a spin-off from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), received an investment of 500,000 euros from EIT Health in July through a EU-sponsored competition. The startup has raised more than 10 million francs since it was founded.

Hemotune intends to use the new funds to accelerate development of HemoSystem, its medical device for blood purification that combines cutting-edge scientific results from biomedicine and nanotechnology. The device uses nanoparticles to bind toxins in the blood and then separate them. The procedure employs an extracorporeal circuit, similar to that used in dialysis: the blood is pumped out of the body, treated and the fed back into the patient’s bloodstream.  

According to Hemotune, its HemoSystem is far more precise and efficient than existing blood purification methods. It is designed primarily for treating blood poisoning or sepsis. As septic shock can occur in connection with a COVID-19 infection, HemoSystem could have “a major impact” on the COVID-19 pandemic, said Cédric Barra, Investment Manager at Occident.

South Korea’s Medical Science Corp invested in Hemotun to strengthen their collaboration, said CEO Eun-Uk Ahn. It would also like to play a role in helping the startup expand into Asia.