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Antwerp, 28.03.2018 – Oxypoint nv, the award-winning University of Antwerp spin-off, bringing innovation to the medical device market for oxygen therapy in hospitals, announced the closing of a €3.8 million Series A financing round led by the Flemish investment company PMV, together with a family office. The investment round was guided by Wouter Van Roost, who was appointed CEO of the company. The company will use the proceeds to bring its unique proprietary CE-labelled O2COMFORT™ Oxygen Flowmeter to the European market and to further expand its product range of novel oxygen-therapy administering medical devices.
Intensified commercial efforts
“We are delighted with this significant boost for our company”, said Philip Hendrickx, founder of Oxypoint. “There is nothing more encouraging than to see efforts rewarded by sizeable financial investments. Having sold 2000 O2COMFORT Flowmeters™ in our home market, we can now confidently conquer Europe!”
Oxypoint will expand its commercial footprint through a network of specialized distributors across Europe. The initial focus markets are the Benelux, the DACH countries, Italy, France, Spain and the UK. In a later stage, Oxypoint aims to enter markets in the Far East and North America.
A family of products
“When we started 7 years ago, I could not have imagined the overwhelming positive market response we would receive”, adds Dirk Borgonjon, co-founder. “We saw an opportunity to bring innovative thinking to the traditional oxygen flowmeters and here we are – seven years later – introducing our innovative oxygen administering medical device to the world hospital market.”
The CE-marked O2COMFORT Oxygen Flowmeter uses Oxypoint’s patented technology, combining a traditional flowmeter with a pneumatic on-demand oxygen delivery valve. The combination of these two administering principles allows hospital nursing staff to switch from a conventional, continuous oxygen flow delivery to an innovative patient-friendly on-demand setting. The on-demand setting delivers an adjustable dose of oxygen at the start of the inhalation phase. The benefit to the patient is a vastly improved comfort due to a reduced nasal dehydration and a higher therapy adherence. Hospitals benefit from lowered spillage and improved oxygen therapy.
“I am delighted to see that Oxypoint is now able to expand its market penetration in Europe and beyond, thus enhancing the comfort of patients while at the same time reducing cost and thereby optimising the scarce hospital resources. PMV strongly believes in Oxypoint’s commercially validated and CE-marked technology and is happy to assist the company to fully capture its growth potential,” says David Devigne, senior investment manager at PMV.
About Oxypoint
Oxypoint was founded in 2011 by Dirk Borgonjon and Philip Hendrickx of the University of Antwerp and its mission is to substantially improve the oxygen therapy in hospitals by both increasing the patient comfort of the oxygen administration and reducing the costs of oxygen waste with traditional flow meters. More than 20 hospitals, including several reference hospitals, have already purchased the innovative oxygen flow meters from Oxypoint. Today there are 5 employees and Oxypoint plans to double this number within 15 months.
About PMV
PMV is a do and dare company that shapes the future of the Flemish economy. PMV finances promising companies from the very start, up to growth and internationalization. PMV offers customized financial solutions to all entrepreneurs with a good business plan and a strong management team. It does this with capital, loans and guarantees. An experienced and highly motivated team of 125 professional investment managers make every effort to create prosperity and well-being in Flanders. PMV has a portfolio with 1.2 billion euros under management. More info: www.pmv.eu