TAU-founded Qart Medical has been backed by the university’s Technology Innovation Momentum Fund and Chartered Investment Managers, itself a partner in TAU Ventures.

Qart Medical, an Israel-based IVF enhancement developer founded by Tel Aviv University (TAU) faculty, has received an undisclosed amount of capital in a round featuring the university’s Technology Innovation Momentum Fund.
The round was led by asset management firm Chartered Investment Managers which is also a limited partner in the university’s TAU Ventures fund. Assorted angel investors also took part in the deal.
Technology Innovation Momentum Fund was established TAU’s tech transfer and business engagement centre, Ramot, and counts diversified conglomerate Tata and data storage copy SanDisk among its shareholders.
Qart Medical has designed a medical device to assist couples struggling to conceive due to male infertility. The technology relies on advanced biophotonic techniques to enhance intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection, an IVF treatment that induces pregnancy by manually injecting the female egg with a single sperm cell.
Qart’s system exploits holographic microscopy to virtually stain batches of sperm cells, allowing embryologists to closely examine each specimen to select the best candidates for injection.
At present, sperm cells can only be stained in a chemical-based process not widely viewed as safe for usage in assisted human reproduction. Qart claims its product can also automatically sort semen cells and provide quantitative information on DNA on a cell-by-cell basis.
The technology will be marketed to fertility clinics, with a commercial release anticipated in 2020. Qart Medical was co-founded by its chief scientist Natan Shaked, an associate professor in TAU’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, whose team led the R&D program that resulted in its technology.