UROMEMS closes €14M financing to develop its smart artificial urinary sphincter to market

The amount includes €2m support from the Worldwide Innovation Challenge (CMI) within the framework of the French Program of investments for the future led by the General Investment Commission and operated by Bpifrance.

UROMEMS, an innovative medtech company developing an active medical implantable device for treatment of severe stress urinary incontinence today announced that it has closed a € 12 million series A financing round led by Wellington Partners, Munich, Germany. Bpifrance via FABS Fund, Cita Investissement, CEA Investissement and b-to-v Partners AG also joined the round.

“I have long been frustrated by the absence of major innovations for patients suffering from stress urinary incontinence and the lack of a convenient and effective artificial urinary sphincter technology that can be used both for male and female patients. UROMEMS is taking the right approach to address this very high unmet medical need”, comments Prof. Pierre Mozer, cofounder of UROMEMS and urologist at Paris Hospital – La Pitié-Salpétrière.

“We have taken a long time to think over every single detail before starting the development of a device that really meets the clinical needs we are addressing. On the basis of our unique technology and broad IP we now are in an excellent position”, says Dr. Hamid Lamraoui, co-founder and CEO of UROMEMS. “This financing will allow us to complete the development of our device and to bring a novel urinary sphincter system to the market that for the first time will provide an effective and convenient solution for the benefit of many patients. And we are proud to have attracted a strong investor syndicate led by such an experienced and reputable player like Wellington Partners.”

“The high degree of innovation, the entrepreneurial spirit and the outstanding achievements of this UROMEMS team have very much impressed us,” adds Dr. Rainer Strohmenger, General Partner at Wellington Partners. “We believe that UroMems has the technology and the capabilities to disrupt a huge potential market that consists of 50 million stress incontinent patients worldwide.”

Privately funded until now, UROMEMS was accelerated by BizMedTech, headed by Dr. Stéphane Lavallée.

Stress urinary incontinence is defined as involuntary leakage of urine. It happens when pressure in the bladder is higher than that of the muscle (the sphincter) around the urethra. It is a taboo subject, but also a significant public health issue, due to the frequency and the socio-economic cost of such a handicap. Stress urinary incontinence affects hundreds of thousands of patients in industrialized countries, and its impact is constantly increasing as a result in particular of population ageing. Although principally women are concerned, urinary incontinence also affects men. The main risk factors are age, pregnancy for women and antecedents of prostate surgery for men. Urologists have different treatments for patients suffering from severe urinary incontinence. Unfortunately, in most cases, these solutions are only partially effective and the rate of surgical reinterventions due to complications caused by such treatments is still high.