Milan, Italy, February 6, 2023 – Approxima Srl announced today the closing of a € 1.6M seed financing round. Approxima is an early stage MedTech startup, spin-off of Politecnico di Milano. Its mission is to develop a minimally invasive tricuspid valve repair system based on a right ventricular reshaping approach to treat patients with tricuspid regurgitation. The company was founded in 2020 by Michal Jaworek, CEO, Edoardo Maroncelli, CTO, and two scientific advisors from Politecnico di Milano, Riccardo Vismara and Gianfranco Beniamino Fiore. The seed round was led by Panakès Partners alongside Club degli Investitori and other business angels, including Barbara Taddei and Carlo Alberto Marcoaldi. The funds raised will be deployed to further advance the technology through pre-clinical testing and towards clinical trials.

Together with the funding the Company has recruited key team members with extensive experience in the space:

Dr Paolo Denti has been appointed as CMO; he is a cardiac surgeon from San Raffaele Hospital (Milan, Italy), a member of PCR Tricuspid Focus Group, European Society of Cardiothoracic Surgery, European Society of Cardiology and European and Italian Societies of Interventional Cardiology. He is an expert in minimally invasive cardiac surgery and an experienced operator in percutaneous technologies in aortic, mitral and tricuspid fields. He served as a principal investigator in various clinical trials and has constantly the honor of podium presentations at the most important international congresses as an invited speaker. During his career he contributed to the preclinical development and served as an operator in First in Human trials of innovative percutaneous technologies (e.g. Tricinch, Saturn and Mitral Shortcut).

Umberto Pasquali has been appointed as Chairman of the Board; he brings over 20 years of experience in business development, project management, operations and finance in medical devices field acquired in executive-level positions at Lima Corporate and LivaNova.

“I am excited by Approxima’s unique technology which goes to the root of the problem by addressing the ventricular dilation rather than the pathology (Tricuspid Regurgitation). With minimally invasive implantation, post-operative adjustment features and a low footprint, we believe that Approxima device could become a treatment of choice for the 13 million people worldwide who are affected by at least moderate TR and who, for the vast majority (>99%), are left untreated” said Umberto Pasquali.

Barbara Castellano will join the Board as Director, representing Panakès Partners. Barbara brings a deep expertise in the cardiovascular space as well as a broad knowledge of the medical devices sector, acquired as former Director of Clinical Affairs, Certifications, Registrations and Quality Assurance at CID SpA (now Alvimedica) and as former Director of Business Development & former Global Marketing Director for the Heart Valves at Sorin (now LivaNova).

“Approxima is working to develop a new and smart concept to treat a complex and very diffused pathology. We at Panakès are proud and excited to give support to the development and formation of the next generation technologies and entrepreneurs” said Barbara Castellano.

“This investment confirms the Club’s growing focus towards innovative Medtech startups. We greatly appreciated the energy and ideas of the founders, the rapid expansion of a qualified team and the strong role of a specialized investor like Panakès. As Club degli Investitori, we count on contributing to a rapid and effective development roadmap thanks to the industry experience of our network of members and in particular thanks to the skills of our “champions”: Alice Ravizza, a professional with strong know-how in the medtech and biotech regulatory field, and Angelo Italiano, a highly experienced manager” said Andrea Rota, Managing Director of the Club degli Investitori.

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