Brussels, 16 March 2021 – Neuroventis, Belgium’s first digital platform for neurology, raises one million euros in investments. The new investors are CAREvolution and PMV, the existing shareholders BlueHealth Innovation Fund and imec.istart reinvest. The start-up is already supporting doctors and patients with neurological disorders in five European countries and will continue its internationalisation through these funds.
In Belgium, one person in ten suffers an epileptic seizure in his or her lifetime and 20.2% of the population is confronted with a migraine attack. 1 The physical, psychological but also societal weight of these neurological disorders cannot be ignored. The risk of death for people with epilepsy is three times higher than the national average 2 and, in Belgium, more than 1,650,000 working days are lost each year due to migraine.3 Neuroventis was founded to tackle these problems and give patients better control over their own health.
The Neuroventis platform is a CE-marked medical device that aims to help patients manage and register their neurological disorders and share their health data with their medical team. This is intended to allow the physician to have a better view of the patient’s evolution during the consultation and to base his therapeutic decisions on more objective data. The ultimate goal is to allow the physician to focus more on the patient during the consultation and to help the patient to better manage his health and prepare his consultations by means of an application (patient empowerment).
“Thanks to a unique collaboration with medical specialists from different hospitals, such as the University Hospitals of Brussels and Leuven, as well as patient associations, we are helping to put the human being back at the heart of medical treatments by giving the patient the means to be a real actor in his or her own health on the one hand, and by helping specialists to establish a personalised approach per patient on the other”, explains Jonathan Schreiber, co-founder and CEO of Neuroventis.
The future of digital healthcare
“The lockdown due to COVID-19 has served as an important accelerator for an already existing growth of mHealth applications (mobile Health is the use of mobile devices, such as smartphones, in health management). Doctors and hospitals, as well as patients, increasingly see this as a unique opportunity to improve care”, according to Ludovic Ampe, co-founder of Neuroventis.
With this funding, Neuroventis aims to further internationalise and support more physicians and patients in different European countries. In addition, the start-up will be active in trying to obtain reimbursement for his applications as digital therapies. Finally, Neuroventis will also use part of the funds to extend its offer in neurology beyond epilepsy and headaches.
Kim Luyckx, Portfolio Manager of BlueHealth Innovation Fund: “Digital health is about to change healthcare, thanks to a market ready for such solutions and technologies that are reaching a sufficient level of maturity”. Diane Lejeune, Business Manager, Medtech & eHealth at PMV and member of the Board of Directors of Neuroventis, adds: “With our investments in digital health, we want to provide patients and healthcare professionals with tools to improve healthcare, satisfaction and efficiency while reducing costs. Investing in Neuroventis provides a very good opportunity of doing so for in the context of neurology, starting with epilepsy and headache”. And Jo Dumortier, CEO of CAREvolution and Chairman of the Board of Neuroventis concludes: “We are convinced that Neuroventis is extremely well placed to accelerate this evolution in the world of neurology and we look forward to continuing the adventure with this team.”
About Neuroventis
Neuroventis is a CE-marked medical device and digital health platform for neurology that consists of applications for patients and a dashboard for physicians. Currently, patients suffering from epilepsy and headaches can track their condition with the Helpilepsy and MigraineManager applications respectively. These are linked to the dashboard for the medical team, where the data are consolidated and visualised. The mission of the Belgian start-up is to support Neurology in order to improve patients’ care. Its ultimate goal is enabling patients themselves to overcome their challenges with confidence. Currently, the Neuroventis platform supports more than 9,000 patients and around 150 healthcare providers.
More information about Neuroventis: https://neuroventis.care/