Ninox raised $10 million while Eye-Yon Medical raised $3.6 million. Ori Choshen, CEO of VLX Ventures: “The investors asserted their extraordinary confidence in the companies”
JERUSALEM, April 28, 2015 – VLX Ventures technology incubator, which invests in Israeli companies in the fields of hi-tech, software, medical devices, and Digital Health, announced today that two medical device companies completed considerable financing rounds this month from top notch investors, to the total sum of $13.6 million.
Ninox’s fundraising took place during the incubation period itself, whereas Eye-Yon Medical completed its round immediately upon graduation. This is a remarkable achievement for both companies and a testament to the degree of trust many investors have in their potential.
The VLX Ventures incubator (Van Leer Xenia Ventures) was established as a partnership between Xenia Venture Capital (TASE: XENA) and Van Leer-Ventures, in order to initiate and build-up innovative start-up companies in Israel.
The Ninox Company, which Xenia invested in, completed a financing round of $10 million from leading Israeli and international funds. The Company’s shareholders before the round are Xenia and Alex Rapoport, the entrepreneur. Xenia will invest $500,000 in the current financing round as well.
Ninox is developing an innovative miniature device for the treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a chronic disorder in which patients suffer from repeated episodes of upper airway obstruction during sleep that disrupts the quality of their sleep, resulting in fatigue and concentration problems as well as comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, heart attacks, and strokes.
About 18 million people in the US alone suffer from OSA. The existing solutions include invasive surgical procedures and sleeping with cumbersome systems that affect the quality of the patient’s sleep. The recent financing should speed up Ninox’s penetration into the market with an innovative product that provides an effective, comfortable to use solution for millions who suffer from this syndrome and aren’t being treated currently.
The Eye-Yon Medical Company, which Van Leer Ventures invested in, completed a financing round of $3.6 million from TriVentures, Pontifax, a large Indian distributor, the Office of the Chief Scientist, and the existing investors, including Docor International Investment Group, part of the Van Leer Group Foundation founded and a shareholder at Van Leer Ventures.
Eye-Yon Medical was founded by Dr. Ofer Daphna, a senior Ophthalmologist; Dr. Arie Marcovich, an expert eye surgeon; and Nahum Ferera, a biomedical engineer currently serving as the company’s CEO. The company developed a special lens for treating Corneal Edema, a disease that is expressed in eyesight impairment and severe pain of the eyeball. Until now, the only effective solution was a corneal transplant from a human donor, the most common and ancient form of organ transplant.
EyeYon Medical’s leading product, sales of which began this year, is a hyper-osmotic contact lens. Hyper-CLTM – a unique contact lens that creates a cavity above the center of the cornea. That cavity can store hypertonic drops for long duration and by that, extract fluids by osmosis from the cornea. The Hyper-CLTM have shown impressive capabilities for the relief of corneal edema in extensive clinical trials. The unique lens has been found to be useful for numerous corneal diseases and today the company is working to expand the indications. The company has another product in development stage – an implant which cures the disease completely, thus eliminating the need for corneal transplant.
Following the financing, Ori Choshen, CEO of VLX Ventures, said: “The two companies were awarded an impressive vote of confidence, both from new top investors and existing investors, the VLX shareholders who participated in these investments. The companies owe these achievements to the inspiring leadership of CEOs Alex Rapoport (Ninox) and Nahum Ferera (EyeYon), who worked in close collaboration with the VLX Ventures team. These are two promising companies, and the financing will speed up their entry to market.”
VLX Ventures (Van Leer Xenia Ventures) was established as a partnership between Xenia Venture Capital (TASE: XENA) and Van Leer Ventures, two leading Israeli early-stage investment centers, to jointly operate a technological incubator in Jerusalem and initiate and build-up innovative start-up companies in Israel.
VLX Ventures specializes in the fields of High-Tech (incl. SW, IoT, Communication & Mobile, Big Data, Video, etc.) and Medical Devices, as well as the combination between them – Digital Health
