Sofinnova Partners

At #LSIEurope26 in Barcelona, Antoine Papiernik moderated The Global Medtech CEO and Investor Roundtable with Kevin Lobo, Chair and CEO, Stryker, Bernard Zovighian, CEO, Edwards Lifesciences and Pat Beyer, CEO, CONMED Corporation. Antoine sees innovation in China moving at remarkable speed, with first-in-class products already reaching the rest of the world. "I see absolutely no reason why this is not going to go to the same level as electric vehicles or what's happening in biopharma." He pointed to our experience with 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘄𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹, which involved a joint venture with a Chinese company that developed one of the country's first intravascular lithotripsy systems, a technology that uses sound waves to break up calcium in arteries. As Chinese companies build their commercial reach globally, Antoine expects them to become highly competitive within five years, starting with robotics. For patients, that means more innovation, faster. Thank you to LSI Europe for hosting.

Congratulations to Mironid® Limited on dosing the first cohorts in Phase 1 trial for the treatment of Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), a life-threatening hereditary kidney disease and one of the most common inherited kidney disorders where there remains significant need for more effective treatment options. This milestone marks Mironid’s transition to a clinical-stage company 👏 .

This morning, Antoine Papiernik joined Anthony More on BFMTV BFM Business to discuss HighLife, following the company's recent €80M funding round. Antoine highlighted France's long track record in medical devices, from the French surgeons who pioneered transcatheter heart valves to HighLife's recent CE Mark for its mitral valve replacement system. He also discussed Sofinnova MD Start IV, our fourth medtech incubation fund, which builds medical device companies from scratch. Looking ahead, he pointed to surgical robotics, physical AI, smart implants and AI in medical imaging. The surgeon stays in charge. Technology helps deliver better care for patients. We have backed HighLife since its founding and are delighted to co-lead this latest round. Watch the full interview, link in comments.

Great to be on the ground in Barcelona at #LSIEurope26, meeting the founders, operators, and investors driving the next generation of medtech, on stage and off. Highlights so far: → Antoine Papiernik and Anne Osdoit opened the summit with a fireside chat alongside Josep Ll. Sanfeliu → Antoine joined Kevin Lobo, Bernard Zovighian, and Pat Beyer for The Global Medtech CEO and Investor Roundtable → Mano Iyer shared his perspective on Successful IP Strategies for Innovators → Our portfolio companies HighLife and TISSIUM spoke on panels covering next-generation heart valves and the first commercial year Still to come tomorrow: → Catch Tulyp Medical presenting to investors and May Health on a panel demystifying working with the FDA and CMS Thank you to LSI for bringing together such a strong community. More conversations to come over the next two days.

We've closed Sofinnova Partners MD Start IV at €82 million. Oversubscribed, and ready to invest in six to eight new medtech companies over the next five years. Our approach is rooted in partnership with clinicians and scientists. We work alongside founders from inception, providing capital, clinical insight, and operational support through key development stages. The previous Sofinnova MD Start fund backed six companies that have collectively raised over €140 million in follow-on financing. Among them: 🔹LimFlow (acquired by Inari Medical) 🔹Moon Surgical (FDA and CE Mark clearance, now used to treat over 3,700 patients) 🔹CorWave (€100 million raised). We're ready to build the next generation of medtech 🙌 .

Julier Medical has appointed Will Martin as President and Chief Executive Officer to lead the company's next phase of growth. Will brings 20+ years of cardiovascular device leadership, including roles at Philips, IRRAS, and Abbott, spanning catheter-based technologies and commercialization at scale. His appointment positions Julier to advance its expandable endovascular catheter platform and address long-standing vascular access challenges. We look forward to supporting Will and the team as they bring this technology to market.

Before the breakthrough: Sofinnova's decade-long bet on HighLife Earlier today, HighLife announced a $90+ million fundraise, nearly ten years after we led its Series A in 2017. One seed round, one €12.3m Series A, and years of clinical and regulatory work later, it's paid off. Read the story behind it: https://lnkd.in/ezHs8uJk

A decade later: co-leading HighLife's $90+ million financing round We backed HighLife's vision when mitral regurgitation treatment was very far from the market and the concept was unproven. That was 2017. We led the €12.3 million Series A as founding institutional investor. A decade later, we're co-leading their latest financing round. What changed in between for the company: 🔹 CE Mark approval 🔹 FDA Breakthrough Device designation 🔹 US pivotal study underway 🔹 A second-generation valve engineered to address LVOT obstruction, now approved in Europe 🔹 A team under Stefan Pilz's leadership executing with discipline across clinical validation, regulatory strategy, and commercial preparation What didn't change: our conviction. We've applied the same approach that worked with 𝗖𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘃𝗲, patient capital, regulatory discipline, and long-term partnership. The expanded investor syndicate today reflects how far HighLife has come. The clinical and regulatory milestones are in place. The race for adoption has begun. 🖇️ Learn more in the press release in the comments.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿. mind Health published a piece highlighting H1 2026: French healthtech raised €709M, up 70% year-over-year. Bionyra set a new record at €143M. But there's a bigger story. As Antoine Papiernik noted: "The US has dominated biotech for fifty years. That dominance is now contested by China. Europe has the means to become the middle ground, leveraging European talent and capital to build new companies." Pharma faces a patent cliff with an existential need for new molecules. Investors are syndicating, funding more mature companies, and taking time to get it right. The conditions are there. Bionyra is proof. The question now is execution.   Link to the full article in the comments.

Congratulations to Cure51 on its major milestone: their first research partnership with a pharmaceutical company, Servier. Cure51 has built something rare: a global database of exceptional cancer survivors and a discovery platform to unlock the biology behind survival. Partnering with Servier, they're now translating those insights into new therapeutic targets. The collaboration pairs Cure51's survivor cohort with Servier's R&D expertise to identify treatments conventional approaches might miss. Cure51 is eligible for up to €442 million per target in potential milestone payments.