AuriGen Medical, an Irish medical devices start-up has raised over €3 million through crowdfunding in just three weeks.
The company, which is based at ATU iHub Galway City has developed a heart implant designed to treat both the stroke and arrhythmia risk associated with atrial fibrillation.
It said the minimally invasive implant aims to revolutionise the management of millions of chronic heart disease patients.
The company launched a crowdfunding campaign with Spark Crowdfunding to help fund the clinical trials of its heart implant.
It raised €1.75 million from institutional investors in Ireland, and sought an additional €750,000 through crowdfunding to facilitate clinical trials starting in 2023.
The Spark Crowdfunding campaign has already raised €2.98 million from 232 investors, above its initial target over a week ago.
AuriGen Medical co-founder and CEO Dr John Thompson said current approaches to treat heart failure and atrial fibrillation – two of the world’s most common chronic cardiovascular diseases – require multiple expensive devices and procedures.
To address these challenges, AuriGen Medical said it has created the first device to integrate stroke prevention, heart failure monitoring and arrhythmia management in a single 30 minute day case procedure.
The company said it aims to provide governments and private healthcare insurers with an alternative to what it called the existing “expensive multi-procedure therapies which are currently required to treat challenging heart failure/arrhythmia patients”.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tony O’Halloran CTO of AuriGen Medical
