Loci Orthopaedics, an Ireland-based medical device spinout from NUI Galway and KU Leuven, closed a €2.75m ($3.2m) seed round yesterday that featured KU Leuven’s seed capital vehicle Gemma Frisius Fund.
Enterprise Ireland, the state-owned enterprise support agency, and the Western Development Commission, a statutory board responsible for social and economic development in the western region of Ireland, also contributed to the round, as did assorted angel investors.
Loci Orthopaedics is working on an implant that mimics the natural motion of the thumb joint. The InDx Implant aims to treat arthritis of the thumb base joint, a condition that causes increasingly severe pain and significant functional impairment of a patient’s hand.
The spinout estimates that more than 40 million people in the US and the EU suffer from the condition, which most commonly affects people over the age of 65. The condition requires a total of more than 200,000 surgeries in the EU and the US each year.
The seed funding is expected to last for two years and will help advance product development as Loci gears up for clinical trials, launches commercialisation efforts in the US, seeks regulatory approval in the EU and pursues follow-up and regulatory approval in the US.
Enterprise Ireland previously funded the development of Loci’s technology at NUI Galway through its Commercialisation Fund program.
David Murphy, director of the technology transfer office in NUI Galway, said: “The founders have strong intellectual property and have amassed a world class team around them.
“We are confident that this combination will enable them to progress quickly in this next phase of their journey. We congratulate Loci Orthopaedics on reaching this important milestone.”
