FREIBURG 23.07.2013
CorTec On The Way To The Future Of Neurotechnology:
Company Closes Second Financing Round
Just two years after seed financing CorTec announces the closing of another round of investment. M-Invest and KfW banking group are now joining the round of investors engaged with CorTec. Their investment of three million Euro will support the market launch of AirRay, CorTec’s first product. Furthermore, the company plans to start into the clinical phase with the implant based on CorTec Brain Interchange technology.
„With M-Invest we found a very active investor who gives us great support also in entrepreneurial aspects”, comments CorTec CEO Dr. Jörn Rickert on the closing. “We are very pleased that also the KfW is taking this step with us. This investment round will take us a decisive step towards the approval of our highly innovative closed-loop system.”
CorTec’s Brain Interchange technology allows measuring and stimulating brain activity in chronic use. The system works in a closed loop which means that it monitors the reactions of the brain and calculates its further activities based on these data. Systems of this kind, especially with a comparably high number of channels, are not yet available so far. CorTec thereby pioneers a major innovation in the field of neurotechnology.
With AirRay CorTec is about to introduce an improved electrode for clinical diagnostics and research onto the market. Thanks to a special laser-based manufacturing process the electrode is thinner and more flexible than currently available products. For an even more precise measuring the product can contain a big number of micro-contacts that do not affect the flexibility of electrode.
O-Ton HTGF…
High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), LBBW Venture Capital and K & S W Invest have been investing in CorTec so far. Besides, the company receives public subsidies from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) and is industry partner of the excellence cluster BrainLinks-BrainTools at the University of Freiburg.
About CorTec
CorTec was founded in 2010 in Freiburg. Since September of 2011 is actively operating. CorTec is developing a neurotechnological implant based on the CorTec Brain Interchange technology that measures and stimulates brain activity in long-term use. The platform character opens up a large number of therapeutic and diagnostic possibilities to this technology. AirRay, an electrode for clinical diagnostics and research, is – as CorTec’s first product – in the process of CE approval.
Contact:
CorTec GmbH
Dr. Jörn Rickert – CEO
Georges-Köhler-Allee 010
D-79110 Freiburg
Telefone: +49 (0)761 8946 945 0
Telefax: +49 (0)761 8946 945 99
info@cortec-neuro.com
www.cortec-neuro.com
About M-Invest
M-Invest is a privately held investitment entity, founded by Bernhard and Tobias Meder. Bernhard Meder is the founder of Meder Electronic, a globally operating enterprise for switching technology, that merged in 2012 with Standex Electronics.
M-Invest does not consider itself a pure financial investor. Furthermore, the corporation supports young companies with innovative business ideas also in the fields of marketing, business development, sales as well as with entrepreneurial knowhow.
Contact:
M-Invest GmbH
Carl-Benz-Str. 19
D-78224 Singen
www.m-invest.eu
Tina Chieregato – CEO Assistant
tchieregato@m-invest.eu
About KfW
KfW banking group give impetus to economic, social and ecological development worldwide. As a promotional bank under the ownership of the German federal government and the Länder (federal states), it offers support to small and medium-sized enterprises, environmental protection, housing, infrastructure, it provides project and export finance, and provides soft loans and grants as part of Germany’s development cooperation.
Contact:
KfW Infocenter: +49 (0)800 539 90 01
infocenter@kfw.de
www.kfw.de
About High-Tech Gründerfonds
High-Tech Gründerfonds invests venture capital in promising technology companies that turn innovative concepts into viable businesses. Seed financing aims to help start-ups guide their innovation to the prototype or proof-of-concept stage or to market launch. High-Tech Gründerfonds provides seed financing of approximately € 500,000. It supports high-tech companies by way of its investment managers and its highly-qualified network of coaches, investors and specialists. In individual cases it can invest up to a total of € 2 m per company.
The investors in this public private partnership are the German Federal Ministry for Business and Technology, the KfW Banking Group as well as the six industrial groups of BASF, Deutsche Telekom, Siemens, Robert Bosch, Daimler and Carl Zeiss. High-Tech Gründerfonds has an investment volume totalling approx. € 272 m.
Contact:
High-Tech Gründerfonds Management GmbH
Dr. Caroline Fichtner – Senior Investmentmanager
Ludwig-Erhard-Allee 2
D-53175 Bonn
Tel: +49 228 823001-00
Fax: +49 228 823000-50
info@htgf.de
www.high-tech-gruenderfonds.de