Creathor Venture leads a Series B financing round of € 5.2 million in CryoTherapeutics

Creathor Venture, one of the leading European Venture Capital firms, leads a Series B financing round in CryoTherapeutics, the developer of a proprietary cryotherapy system for use in the treatment of coronary artery disease. The Life Science Start-up CryoTherapeutics receives at total of € 5.2 million in the current Series B financing round from Creathor Venture as well as from the existing investors NRW.BANK, Peppermint CBF, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Getz Brothers, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) and several renowned business angels.

CryoTherapeutics was established in December 2009 by a team of experienced serial entrepreneurs from the UK, US and Canada and is focusing on development ‎and application of a unique novel and proprietary approach for treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes and myocardial infarction. Unlike with traditional techniques it is anticipated that  ‎the application of cryo energy can avoid in many patients the use of intravascular stents or scaffolds thus maintaining vascular function in the culprit or treated vessel.

This financing will allow CryoTherapeutics to demonstrate the benefit in the treatment of heart attack patients by using this catheter-based system in a clinical trial with the goal of achieving market approval in Europe (CE-mark).

Cardiovascular disease is the biggest largest single cause of death in the western societies. In Germany alone there are more than 300,000 people affected by heart attacks each year. In the EU there are 1.6m people and in the US 1.2m. Just the acute treatment of heart attack patients which is the initial focus of CryoTherapeutics represents a market potential of over € 1 billion.

Dr. John Yianni, founder and CEO of CryoTherapeutics stated: “We are delighted to have completed this substantial financing with this consortium of experienced Life Science investors. With the funds of this financing round we are now ready to further demonstrate the benefits of our treatment procedure for vulnerable or ruptured plaques in the setting of heart attack in a clinical study.”

Dr. Maurice Buchbinder, Founder and Chief Medical Officer stated: “We look forward to the initiation of the CHILL 1 study later this year to demonstrate the versatility and effectiveness of this exciting new treatment modality.”

Dr. Aristotelis Nastos, Partner with Creathor, who is joining the Board of CryoTherapeutics stated: “I am impressed with the current status of the project. I have been following the preclinical development of this proprietary catheter system since the inception of CryoTherapeutics, very closely. This innovative device has the potential to become a real game changer in the treatment of coronary plaques. The commitment, experience and dedication of the team around the CEO, John Yianni, and the CMO, Dr. Maurice Buchbinder, has been crucial for the successful development of the company. We are delighted to work with a management team that has such a successful track record in the international MedTech industry.”

About Creathor Venture
As a leading European Venture Capital firm, Creathor Venture invests in technology-oriented companies and entrepreneurs. Creathor Venture focuses on Mobile, E-commerce, Digital Media, Cloud Technology, Internet of Things, Sharing Economy, Fintech, Life Science and E-Health. Regional focus is on Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Scandinavia. The management team of Creathor Venture consists of the CEO Dr. Gert Köhler, Karlheinz Schmelig, Cédric Köhler and Dr. Aristotelis Nastos. The team has been investing successfully in the early-stage venture capital business for 30 years. During that time, the team has built more than 200 technology companies successfully, conducted more than 20 international IPOs and has achieved exceptional returns for fund investors and the financed entrepreneurs in the past, all in the position as lead investor. The current portfolio of more than 35 companies is actively supported in development, growth and internationalization by a team of 18 staff. Creathor Venture manages funds of more than EUR 180 million and holds offices in Bad Homburg, near Munich, in Cologne, in Zurich and in Stockholm.

The investors of the current fund include the European Union, through which the fund receives funding from the “Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme” (CIP), and the “ERP EIF fund of funds” and the LfA – Gesellschaft für Vermögensverwaltung GmbH, both facilities of the European Investment Fund (“EIF”), fund of funds, family offices and entrepreneurs.

As the largest investor in Creathor the management underlines its entrepreneurial orientation.

About CryoTherapeutics GmbH
CryoTherapeutics was established in December 2009 in Potsdam by a team of serial entrepreneurs from the UK, US and Canada with initial seed funding by HTGF, the founders and two private investors. The focus of the company is the development, demonstration of clinical benefit, and early-stage commercialization of cryotherapy systems for the treatment of coronary plaque.

For further information, please visit https://www.cryotherapeutics.com

About High-Tech Gründerfonds High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in young, high potential high-tech start-ups. The seed financing provided is designed to enable start-ups to take an idea through prototyping and to market launch. Typically, High-Tech Gründerfonds invests EUR 600,000 in the seed stage, with the potential for up to a total of EUR 2 million per portfolio company in follow-on financing. Investors in this public/private partnership include the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, as well as strategic corporate investors including ALTANA, BASF, Bayer, B. Braun, Robert Bosch, CEWE, Daimler, Deutsche Post DHL, Deutsche Telekom, Evonik, Lanxess, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, METRO, Qiagen, RWE Innogy, SAP, Tengelmann and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has about EUR 576 million under management in two funds (EUR 272 million HTGF I, EUR 304 million HTGF II).

Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Kay Balster
Schlegelstraße 2
53113 Bonn
Tel.: +49 228 823001-00
Fax: +49 228 823000-50
k.balster@htgf.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de