Over €26bn in investment funds available to Irish medtech start-ups

Over €26 billion in investment funds from venture capital firms will be available to Irish medtech start-ups set to pitch at The Medtech Strategist Innovation Summit 2017 in Dublin this week.

More than 400 global medtech leaders, investors and start-ups are expected to attend the event, with over 40 medtech start-ups set to pitch for the funding.

A number of the world’s top companies will attend, including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Baxter, as well as both global and local venture capitalists such as Fountain Healthcare Partners, Lightstone Ventures and Sofinnova Partners.

Approximately half of the 450 medtech companies currently based in Ireland are indigenous companies, employing 29,000 people, and “18 of the world’s top 25 medical technology companies have a base in Ireland”, Aidan Meagher, partner and head of life sciences at EY said.

“With a host of new start-ups emerging every year and a significant opportunity on the horizon for Ireland in the shape of Brexit, affording this entrepreneurial community the opportunity to get in front of some of the world’s leading medtech investors is key, so that they can access the funding to bring their business to the next stage,” Meagher said.

Irish medtech companies who will pitch to venture capitalists during the conference include Mainstay Medical, which is developing an implant to treat people with chronic lower back pain, and Ponce De Leon Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a product formulation aimed at postponing the onset of human frailty and the extension of human lifespan.