FineHeart Secures €83 Million in Series C and EU Grants for FlowMaker Heart Pump

FineHeart, a French clinical-stage company developing an implantable pump for advanced heart failure, said on January 8 that it had completed a €35 million first closing of its Series C financing round, and that together with €48 million in European grants it has secured €83 million in total financing, according to the company's press release.

The Bordeaux company said the money combines private capital and non-dilutive European public funding, and will be used to speed up the industrialization and clinical development of its FlowMaker device. The release describes the €35 million as a first closing that paves the way for the remainder of the Series C round; it did not give a target size or a valuation.

Who invested

New investors in the first closing include Groupe Pasteur Mutualité, a group of mutual insurers for health professionals, and Groupe Etchart, a family-owned construction group, alongside what FineHeart called significant participation from the European Innovation Council's fund, for which the European Investment Bank acts as investment advisor. Existing investors FH Founders, the founders' holding company, along with Lurra, IRDI, Groupe Doliam and NACO also took part, the company said.

"We are delighted to welcome new investors at this first closing," said Arnaud Mascarell, FineHeart's chief executive and co-founder, who thanked Groupe Pasteur Mutualité and the EIC for their contributions.

Svetoslava Georgieva, chair of the EIC Fund board, said supporting the company's move "from clinical development to industrial deployment fully aligns with the EIC's mission."

€48 million in grants

Separately, FineHeart is to receive €48 million in grants, disbursed in several tranches, as lead partner of a project to structure Europe's active implantable medical device sector under an Important Project of Common European Interest. The company's release calls the program IPCEI Tech4Cure; Medical Device Network referred to it as IPCEI Med4Cure and converted the total financing to $96.6 million.

The grant-funded work will focus on miniaturizing power supply systems, cutting energy requirements and improving the long-term reliability and durability of implantable systems, according to the release.

Medical Device Network reported that 13 companies from Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia and Spain take part in the initiative, under which participating countries will provide up to €1 billion in public funding.

The FlowMaker device

FineHeart describes FlowMaker as a fully implantable cardiac output accelerator that sits inside the ventricle and provides support synchronized with the heart's own contractions, without an aortic bypass. It is recharged through a transcutaneous energy transfer system rather than a cable through the skin to external batteries, and is implanted on a beating heart in a procedure that averages 90 minutes, the company said.

The company said it is initially targeting 50,000 of the most severe heart failure patients who are eligible for cardiac assistance but are not treated with current left ventricular assist devices, a first market it estimates at more than €5 billion. Medical Device Network described FlowMaker as a hybrid between a pacemaker and a cardiac assist device. Those market figures are the company's own estimates.

FineHeart, based in Bordeaux and Tours, says it holds 160 patents in 27 families.