GERMITEC pursues its ambitious business expansion with a financing round of €11 million from leading French investors in the health sector

GERMITEC pursues its ambitious business expansion with a financing round of €11 million from leading French investors in the health sector

• Reference investors in the healthcare sector, Financière Arbevel, Kurma Partners, via its Kurma Growth Opportunities fund, and Sham Innovation Santé advised by Turenne Capital, become GERMITEC shareholders
• Private investors and Southwest regional funds (Aquiti Gestion, via its NACO fund, and Galia Gestion) also join this financing round
• New and accomplished management team with successful joint experience, led by Vincent Gardès, CEO
• European and international commercial expansion plan launched to strengthen the position of UV-C-based High-Level disinfection in a market estimated at €245 M¹
• GERMITEC continues to lead the battle against HAI (Healthcare-Acquired Infections), which affect on average 1 in 20 hospitalized patients, and notably HPV cross-infections
• Preparation of the USA go-to-market strategy following FDA clearance

Bordeaux, France, May 10^th, 2022

GERMITEC, a global healthcare leader in designing, commercializing high-Level UV-C disinfection systems for ultrasound probes, radically simplifying the lives of healthcare professionals in terms of safety, time, and responsibility, today announces the completion of a financing round of €11M and the appointment of its new management team.

Winner of the Prix Galien in 2020 for the best medical device², GERMITEC has secured a strong financing plan with its new shareholders: Financière Arbevel, Sham Innovation Santé advised by Turenne Capital, Kurma Partners and funds based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine as well as private investors. This finance round is a strong commitment and a validation of the market potential of the UV-C-based High-Level Disinfection (HLD) technology and devices that GERMITEC has developed and commercialized.

The main objective of this new financing round is to launch an ambitious international commercial expansion plan aiming at transforming a historically technology-driven company into a leading sales company with an international footprint in strategic markets. GERMITEC is actively working towards obtaining FDA clearance in the coming months to commercialize Hypernova Chronos in the USA, the pioneering market of HLD, recommended since 2008 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Beyond this expansion, the Company will continue to structure its operations and lead innovation in the ultrasound probe HLD market.

“With the support of our historical and new shareholders, I am confident we will rapidly transform GERMITEC into a high-growth commercial company that supports healthcare professionals around the world on a daily basis to ensure the safety of their patients during ultrasound examinations. This is the mission of this new management team, and we will strive to achieve it as we have done before in other leading medical device companies”, said Vincent Gardès, CEO of GERMITEC.

“On behalf of the new shareholders, we are very excited to be involved in this project. We were very impressed and quickly convinced by the work accomplished by GERMITEC and the great opportunity that can be materialized with this financing. Providing healthcare professionals and patients with innovative, safe and simple solutions for the major problem of cross-infection in healthcare facilities is the cornerstone of our commitment. We are confident that the new management team will make a strong impact and deliver on GERMITEC’s mission”, said Louis Geslin, co-Manager of the Arbevel Life Sciences Crossover fund.

“We are delighted and honored to welcome new shareholders and to appoint this new management team. This validates all the efforts the GERMITEC teams have made since its inception to develop products and technology with recognized potential”, said Clément Deshays, Chairman of the Board of GERMITEC.

As part of this financing round, a new management team has been appointed with the aim to support and accelerate GERMITEC’s development and drive its long-term strategy:

• Vincent Gardès, CEO and Board Member: Vincent has 25 years of successful experience in the medical device industry, both in large international companies (Medtronic, Stryker, Bard) and in the development of innovative startups (Vexim, Kumovis, Amber Implants). Vincent brings solid expertise in International and European sales, marketing, human resources, and experience in financial management (IPO, secondary offerings, mergers and acquisitions). Among his successes, Vincent was instrumental in Stryker’s acquisition of Vexim (specialist in treatment of vertebral compression fractures with its SpineJack® device) at the end of 2017 for €183M. He recently supported the acquisition of Kumovis by 3D Systems (price undisclosed).
• José Da Gloria, Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer: José has more than 20 years of successful experience in finance acquired both in large corporations (Dell, ev3 acquired by Covidien) and in medical device and biotech start-ups, with a successful track record in building and leading large financial transactions. José also strongly contributed to the successful acquisition of Vexim by Stryker. At GERMITEC, José will oversee the financial performance as well as all administrative, HR and strategic projects developments.
• Sébastien Lemoine, Chief Business Officer: Sébastien brings 25 years of successful experience in the medical device industry, at large US corporations (Stryker, Zimmer Biomet, Wright Medical Technology) and innovative SMEs (Vexim, Z-Medica). Sébastien comes to GERMITEC with a solid international experience in management, sales, marketing and business development. He recently successfully developed the EMEA division of Z-Medica (a Linden Capital Partners portfolio company), which was acquired by Teleflex in late 2020. At GERMITEC, Sébastien will lead the sales and marketing operations.
• Arnaud Casson, Chief Operations Officer: Arnaud started his career as a financial auditor at EY. Over the past 20 years, he built up his experience within the Stryker group and more particularly in support of the Spine Division, where he progressed to supply chain and operations management roles. For the past 8 years, he has been responsible for the Spine division’s manufacturing facilities based in Europe. Arnaud has contributed to improving operational efficiency and reducing manufacturing costs whilst putting customers first. At GERMITEC, Arnaud will lead operational activities, covering R&D, quality assurance, regulatory affairs, and supply chain.

Within the framework of this new organization, a new Board of Directors has been constituted as follows:

• Clément Deshays: Former CEO and co-founder of GERMITEC will be non-executive Chairman of the Board
• Louis Geslin: Board member, representing Financière Arbevel
• Bervin Bouani: Board member, representing Turenne Capital
• Jean-Francois Rivassou: Board member, representing Kurma Partners
• Patrice Taisson: CEO of Softway Medical, independent Board member
• Vincent Gardès: CEO, Board member
• Claudia Daugan (Galia): Observer
  
  

TP ICAP MIDCAP's teams have advised GERMITEC for the addition of Financière Arbevel and Sham Innovation Santé advised by Turenne Capital as equity partners. Degroux Brugère (Jérémie Swiecznik, Benoît Courtet) and Mermoz (Tristan Segonds et Éléanore Griffiths) law firms also advised the new investors.

On the legal aspects, GERMITEC was also assisted by the GOODWIN firm: Anne-Charlotte Rivière (partner), Aude Steinberg (associate) and Coralie Davis (paralegal) and the law firm Fidufrance.

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About GERMITEC

GERMITEC is committed to providing healthcare professionals and patients with safe, simple and automated UV-C solutions for ultrasound probe disinfection, replacing chemistry with photons to radically simplify the lives of healthcare professionals in terms of safety, time and liability.

With 15 years of experience in the design and development of sustainable hospital hygiene solutions, GERMITEC is a market leader with a proven track record of product development and sales growth and strong prospects for expansion.

About GERMITEC’s product line

GERMITEC automated systems replace impregnated chemical wipes, soaking stations, and the use of hydrogen peroxide with a faster, simpler, and cleaner automated system for a seamless High-Level Disinfection (HLD) process for ultrasound probes.

Hypernova Chronos, dedicated to external, vaginal and rectal ultrasound probes, offers ultra-fast HLD in 90 seconds with digital traceability. This chemical-free system is changing clinical practice, enabling UV-C HLD to become the standard of care in all hospital and clinical departments. Hypernova Chronos received the 2020 Prix Galien Award in the “Best Medical Device” category.

Antigermix AE1, dedicated to transesophageal (TEE) ultrasound probes, is designed to ensure that the entire length of the TEE probe, including the handle, is disinfected in just 3 minutes, using UV-C light.

PROUV is an advanced digital traceability system designed to be used with GERMITEC’s HLD automated systems. PROUV offers a new level of compliance and security for advanced digital traceability, ensuring quality health outcomes and improving workflow efficiency when using ultrasound scanners.

Hypernova Chronos and Antigermix AE1 are approved in over 35 countries worldwide, covering Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the Americas.

About Healthcare-Acquired Infections (HAI)

The CDC defines Healthcare-Acquired Infections (HAI) as an infectious event that is diagnosed more than 48 hours after admission to a healthcare facility or examination, without evidence that the pathogen was already in the incubation phase. HAI include hospital-acquired infections (also called Nosocomial Infections) but also infections that could have been contracted in other healthcare settings.

The 2017 National Prevalence Survey conducted in France confirmed that the prevalence of hospital-acquired infections represents approximately 5% of all patients hospitalized in a year.

A large retrospective study conducted between 2010 and 2016 in Scotland found an association between low-level disinfection procedures and the occurrence of infection. Compared with unexposed patients, those who underwent transesophageal, transvaginal or transrectal ultrasound were more likely to develop an infection that eventually led to prescription of antibiotics³.

Without proper disinfection, as outlined in the Spaulding classification⁴, routine examinations can put patients’ health at risk, including long-term HPV infections⁵.

Contacts

1 GLOBAL ULTRASOUND PROBE DISINFECTION MARKET RESEARCH REPORT 2021, QY Research
2 https://germitec.com/germitec-chronos-wins-prix-galien-award-best-medical-device-2020/
3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6099767/
4 https://germitec.com/high-level-disinfection-ultrasound-probe/
5 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3480505/

Attachment

• PR in English