A year after it was founded, Emosis has raised 1 million euros Series A for the European launch in 2017 of the first in-vitro diagnostic kit for use in the haemostasis field

Focus on haemostasis disorders

Generally speaking, haemostasis is a process which causes bleeding to stop. This can either occur spontaneously or through a haemostatic procedure (drug, medical procedure, surgery, etc.). Haemostasis is also the process by which blood is maintained in a fluid state within the circulatory system.

Haemostasis disorders, either disease-related or drug induced (some 5% of French people are treated with antiplatelet agents) can occur in the following events:

• a bleeding event, such as purpura (cutaneous or mucosal bleeding), excessive menstruation, surgical bleeding, hemorrhagic stroke, etc.
• a clotting event such as ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, thrombotic complication of cancer, recurrent miscarriage and other pregnancy-related vascular complications.

The haemostasis market is worth over $1.5 billion worldwide and represents 3% of the in-vitro diagnostics market

A successful series A round

Emosis, a French company specializing in developing and marketing in-vitro diagnostic kits, has successfully negotiated a 1 million euro round of funding from the Cap Innov’Est seeding fund. This is the first increase of capital since the founding of the company in January 2015.

The proceeds will be primarily used to market the first in a series of test kits for diagnosing and assessing haemostasis disorders. This first kit, due for launch in the European market in 2017, will be used to confirm the diagnosis of Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia (HIT).

HIT is a rare, but life-threatening disorder that is frequently suspected in hospital in-patients treated with heparin. In HIT, heparin (an anticoagulant drug) paradoxically triggers severe clotting complications. Tests currently used for confirming HIT have to be performed by experienced operators in a restricted number of specialized laboratories.

As from 2017, the Emosis test will enable rapid, routine confirmation of HIT on site, i.e. in the medical biology laboratory of the hospital where the patient is receiving care, with significant medical and economic benefits.

Emosis CEO Frédéric Allemand commented: “We are very pleased to have Cap Innov’Est on board. They share our vision to grow Emosis into an international company with a leading franchise in hemostasis diagnostics, a segment with a promising growth outlook.”

Professor Aaron Tomer, MD, MSc, CSO, added: “We are very happy that patients will soon start to benefit from Emosis tests. Our HIT test will be the first of our series of tests to enter medical laboratory and clinical practice, and we are confident that it will very quickly become the ‘go-to’ test to confirm suspected cases of HIT.”

Jean-François Rax, Investment Director at Cap Innov’Est summed up: “This investment gives Emosis the best possible start as they progress their plans to take their first product into the in-vitro diagnostics market. A successful launch will validate the potential of Emosis kits and underline the company’s capability to market this innovative new system

Emosis 

EMOSIS is an in-vitro diagnostics company founded by a Franco–Israeli–American team. This team has developed a first-in-class, high-performance and user-friendly system that combines a series of kits and a dedicated device to diagnose, differentiate and quantify haemostasis disorders. The company was created in Montpellier in January 2015 in the Languedoc-Roussillon Incubator site, and was supported by the Business Innovation Center.

Emosis transferred its headquarters to Alsace in October 2015 while keeping a site in Languedoc Roussillon in order to support the future development of regional collaborative projects.

Emosis won the 2013 Concours Tremplin Entreprises, a start-up contest organised by the French Senate and the 2014 Concours ILab, a different start-up contest, organised by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, in the creation and development category, which featured a grant of €250,000. The company also won the 2014 NETVA (New Technology Venture Accelerator), an award run by the Office for Science and Technology of the French Embassy in the United States.