Qbic has participated in a $32.8m funding round for EyeD, consisting of $9.4m in equity and another $23.4m in debt financing and government grants.
EyeD, a Belgium-based developer of an implant to treat glaucoma that was spun out of the University Hospital of Liège (CHU Liège), has raised a total of €28m ($32.8m) from investors including multi-university venture fund Qbic.
Qbic participated in an $9.4m equity tranche together with Fund+ and assorted private investors. The remaining $23.4m came in the form of bank loans and grant financing from the Walloon government, though further details were not disclosed.
Founded in 2012, EyeD has developed an eye implant that is less than one centimetre in diameter and is inserted into the eye through a small incision in a surgical procedure that takes ten minutes.
The implant contains the sane ingredients as eye drops that are currently used to treat glaucoma, and discharges the drug over three years. EyeD hopes the approach will help patients who have struggled to administer daily drops, which can cause eye irritation.
The device has been successfully trialled in rabbits and is set to enter human clinical trials in 2020. The funding will support clinical studies and allow the spinout to start production and grow its headcount from a current 30 staff.
The spinout expects to make the technology commercially available in 2024. EyeD is also working on using the implant to treat other eye conditions and has two undisclosed products in the pipeline.
EyeD advances research led by Jean-Marie Rakic, head of the department of ophthalmology at CHU Liège, who collaborated with Prof Jean-Michel Foidart, former head of the gynaecology and obstetrics department at University of Liège.
EyeD Pharma previously raised a total of $5.9m – a first $700,00 when it was founded in 2012, another $2.3m in 2016 and $2.9m in July 2018. Its early backers include Meusinvest, Ophtalmos and the Foidart family office.
