PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tilak Healthcare, a pioneering company developing mobile games with medical modules to monitor patients with chronic ophthalmological conditions, has announced a €7 million fundraising round managed by Elaia, with the participation of Swen Capital Partners, Matmut Innovation, and co-founder and long-time investor iBionext Growth Fund. This latest investment shows continued confidence in the company.
According to the World Health Organisation: “Globally, at least 2.2 billion people have a near or distance vision impairment. In at least 1 billion – or almost half – of these cases, vision impairment could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed.” In response to this issue, Tilak Healthcare developed OdySight (CE labelled Class I Device), the first medical game for mobile devices used to remotely monitor age-related visual impairment. OdySight has already optimised the healthcare pathways of thousands of patients in Europe and the USA who are suffering from retina diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration or diabetic retinopathy, allowing their ophthalmologists to monitor their visual acuity in real time.
Guided by Professor José-Alain Sahel, founder of the Vision Institute and Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Edouard Gasser, Tilak Healthcare’s CEO and a former Head of Studio at Gameloft, created a team that consists of experts with a total of more than three decades of experience creating video games, in addition to highly qualified, globally-recognised scientists. This unique blend of talent allows for the creation of engaging solutions for use by patients, which also meet doctors’ requirements for clinical rigour. The team is now supported by a new board with highly complementary skills: the expertise of Samantha Jérusalmy and Sacha Loiseau (Elaia), and Julien Bourret (Swen Capital Partners) will enhance that of Cédric Sellin, Bernard Gilly, and Alexia Perouse (iBionext).
This fundraising round will allow the company to continue its international rollout and diversification of offerings around OdySight. The OdySight rollout started in France where it is used by nearly 20% of retinologists. Now expansion is beginning in the USA as well as in Spain and Belgium. Tilak Healthcare also plans to launch OdySight Care, a remote vision monitoring solution for healthcare companies to meet the need for regular monitoring during clinical trials, and for health insurance groups for use in preventative health. The Matmut Group is very involved in this area, via Mutuelle Ociane Matmut, which motivated its participation during the funding round.
Edouard Gasser, co-founder and CEO of Tilak Healthcare, commented: “We are very pleased to have completed this funding round with a complementary group of investors, whose involvement, expertise, and shared ambition of making the company a global reference point for remote monitoring of visual impairment will support the growth of Tilak Healthcare. Visual health is one of the challenges in ageing well, as emphasised by World Sight Day, which takes place in October each year. At Tilak Healthcare, we believe that digital and video game technologies can contribute to solving some of the problems faced by healthcare systems around the world. We are delighted to be surrounded by people who share this vision.”
“We were immediately impressed by the complementary nature of the Tilak Healthcare team, consisting of video games professionals and medical experts with the validation of world-renowned ophthalmologist Professor Sahel. We are excited to be investing at a key moment in the company’s life to help it anchor its global leadership,” explained Samantha Jérusalmy, Partner at Elaia.
“Tilak Healthcare has succeeded in reconciling clinical rigour and digital expertise, making OdySight one of the only clinically approved digital solutions for home vision monitoring. Their solution is key, because it allows care pathways to be optimised,” added Sacha Loiseau, Venture Partner at Elaia.
“Since our initial involvement, Tilak Healthcare has demonstrated the clinical effectiveness of OdySight in monitoring chronic diseases, particularly in the area of sight. We are delighted to increase our financial support for this pioneer in remote monitoring,” commented Alexia Perouse, CEO of iBionext.
This latest financing round takes the amount Tilak Healthcare has raised since its creation in 2016 to over €12 million.
About Tilak Healthcare
Tilak Healthcare is a unique videogame studio where like-minded and passionate people create fun mobile medical games for patients with chronic diseases. There is an ever-increasing demand for medical services, placing a huge burden on the healthcare system; doctors and caregivers need new, validated tools and resources to improve access. At Tilak Healthcare, every product on the market is clinically validated, developed with physician and patient advocates, compliant with medical device regulations, and protects the patient’s privacy.
For more information: http: //www.tilakhealthcare.com/
About Elaia Partners
Elaia is a European top-tier VC firm with a strong tech DNA. We back tech disruptors with global ambition from early stage to growth development. For the past 19 years, our commitment has been to deliver high performance with values. We are proud to have been an active partner in over 100 startups including success stories such as Criteo (Nasdaq), Orchestra Networks (acquired by Tibco), Volterra (acquired by F5), Mirakl (valued $3.5B in Series E) and Shift Technology (valued $1B+ in Series D).
Learn more http://www.elaia.com
About SWEN Capital Partners
SWEN Capital Partners is a leading player in responsible investment in unlisted assets in Europe. With €6.4 billion under management, SWEN Capital Partners offers a wide range of investment programs for institutional and private clients. The asset management company integrates ESG criteria in all its asset management activities and has been implementing a climate strategy since 2017. In 2019, it reinforced its actions in favor of fairer and more sustainable growth by launching its first impact fund dedicated to renewable gas. Its increasingly strong convictions are leading the management company to go further in 2021 by launching its new impact management strategy dedicated to ocean regeneration. SWEN Capital Partners is a subsidiary of OFI (whose main shareholders are Macif and Matmut) and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, as well as part of its team.
About Groupe Matmut
With more than 4 million members and 7.6 million insurance contracts under management, the Matmut Group is a major player in the French insurance market. It offers individuals, professionals, companies, and associations a complete range of personal and property insurance products (car, motorcycle, boat, home, liability, family protection, health, legal, and assistance) as well as financial and savings services (car and project loans, loan insurance, savings accounts, life insurance, etc.). The Matmut Group currently has 6,400 employees. SGAM Matmut had a turnover of 2.29 billion euros in 2020. The Matmut Group has an ambitious innovation policy, aimed in particular at collaborating with players who propose innovations in the insurance business value chain. Matmut Innovation is its investment vehicle.
About iBionext
iBionext is a venture capital firm that supports and finances the development of companies with a strong technological breakthrough in healthcare (HealthTech). Launched as a network of start-ups in 2012, iBionext is the first French start-up studio and investment fund to operationally cover the entire value chain of its investments, from creation to growth. All iBionext companies are grouped on a single site, in the "Passage de l'Innovation", Paris, France. Since its creation, the iBionext network has enabled the creation of 9 companies - Pixium Vision (Euronext: PIX), GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT), Tissium, Prophesee, ChronoLife, BrainEver, Tilak Healthcare, BrainEver, GrAI Matter Labs and T-Heart, which have raised over €500M. More than 15 clinical trials are underway worldwide and 300+ employees specializing in cutting-edge sectors have joined these companies. iBionext is a committed and active impact investor.
For more information: http://ibionext.com
