Surgical robotics, intelligent vehicles and much more – Ascend Capital Partners invests over EUR 15 million in medtech and mobility startups

Female-led, Luxembourg-based investor ready to invest up to EUR 60 million over the next few years, and is looking for even more European and Asian startups to invest in.

Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (April 5th, 2023) Ascend Capital Partners (Ascend) has announced four successful investments this year into Piur imaging, Nanoflex Robotics, MXD and DriveU.auto, part of an initiative to invest up to EUR 60 million over the next few years into mobility and medtech startups across Europe and Asia.

Founded by Monita Mo, founding partner and a serial entrepreneur, Ascend takes a distinctive approach as a lead investor in startups, actively advising and guiding investments at the board level and operationally. Since 2002, Ascend has generated hundreds of millions of USD in returns from successful investments across Asia and Europe. Ascend’s unique role as a financial investor with a strong strategic mindset has proved successful in previous investments, most recently in its latest exit in 2022 with the sale of Grundium Oy. 

“I believe that the healthcare and mobility sectors have the ability to change how we live. Healthcare guides how humans treat life-threatening diseases and provides preventative measures so that we can live longer and healthier lives. Mobility helps us live fulfilling lives by enabling us to travel to places that enrich our life experiences. We also have our internal environmental, social, and governance goals that we adhere to when assessing potential investments. Both of these sectors have direct and indirect impact on our livelihood, and I am proud that my team and I have worked hard to move these industries forward. I want to leverage our team’s skills to help others live better lives,” says Jerry Hong, CEO of Ascend Capital Partners.

Following the successful exit of Grundium Oy and the strong performance of the wider portfolio, Ascend is launching its second wave of investments into industry-changing tech companies. So far, the firm has closed four deals this year, and has its sights set on further investments into medtech and mobility sectors. New investments so far include:

Piur imaging is an Austria-based company that has a hardware/software solution that turns any standard ultrasound system into a tomographic imaging device, bridging the gap between 2D ultrasound and standard 3D imaging modalities. The technology enables tomographic 3D ultrasound imaging for a wide range of clinical applications. The company’s main focus is currently on thyroid nodule diagnosis, but the technology can be used for all vascular diseases including nerve imaging. The Series A deal first closed in March with Ascend as the lead investor investing a total of EUR 2.13 million. The money is used to accomplish FDA and CE certifications and to ramp up sales.

Nanoflex is developing a robotic system that allows the precise movement of specially made catheters using electromagnetic controls. The electromagnetic technology, which has been developed for decades out of the ETH in Zurich, enables surgeons to quickly and accurately navigate catheters with extreme precision throughout the vascular system. Nanoflex’s first market entry into the stroke space proves its ability to tackle the most complex vessel systems in the brain. Ascend led Nanoflex’s Series A investment round with EUR 5 million (CHF 5 million). The money is used to grow the team at a faster rate and move along their clinical regulatory pathway.

MXD is a Shanghai-based startup that focuses on automotive chassis domain control. The company offers intelligent chassis domain control computing platform solutions based on artificial intelligence, novel fusion algorithms, digital twins, and machine learning. MXD can provide various solutions, from system-on-a-chip (SoC) to a full range of wired chassis core component systems in order to meet the different needs of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) customers. As the principal investor, Ascend invested USD 5 million in seed funding. The money is used to establish offices and manufacturing space, and ramp up commercialization efforts.

DriveU.auto has developed a software-based technology that enables consistent low latency for 4k video, audio and other streams crucial for a wide range of autonomous and teleoperated vehicles. DriveU’s tried and tested technology was originally spun out from LiveU, a world leader in the broadcast communication technology space, which was acquired by Carlyle in 2021. Ascend is proud to have acted as lead investor in DriveU’s funding round with participation from existing shareholders. Proceeds will be used towards expanding recurring revenue projects with existing customers, and to further penetrate new industry verticals.

“We are delighted to have Ascend on board as the lead investor in our Series A round. We see Ascend as a valuable and proactive investor that is able to help us to improve our internal operations and provide us valuable business connections. Within the first few months of investment, Ascend has proven their ability by bringing on new investment partners and opening up a business connection to the Chinese market. We are grateful for Ascend’s business expertise and look forward to growing with them,” says Frederik Bender, CEO of Piur imaging.

At this stage, Ascend is looking to invest in up to 10 startups in the mobility and medtech sectors, and is particularly interested in companies that have growth potential in Asia. While Ascend usually takes on the lead investor role, they are open to co-investments and syndicate partners that align with Ascend’s strategic thinking.

Ascend has been committed to Europe since 2012 when they made their investment into a Luxembourg seatbelt sensor company, IEE, which experienced a successful exit in 2016. By 2017 Ascend had already begun their portfolio investment strategy into a range of European tech start-ups, actively helping them to scale globally. Ascend’s diverse team of skilled professionals continues to work hard to source and manage investments and, alongside an advisory board of industry veterans, to act as a bridge between European innovation and Asian growth opportunities. 

Full list of Ascend Capital Partners’ ventures (past and present)

• IEE Luxembourg - Creating the highest quality sensors for everyday life applications excelling at passenger and child safety by pioneering seat belt sensors, occupant detection and occupant classification.
• Grundium - Portable digital microscope and scanner for pathology research and diagnosis, with integrated wireless connectivity and processing power enabling telepathology practically anywhere on the planet.
• Aiforia Technologies -  Platform bringing together AI and cloud computing for complex image analysis for digital pathology images.
• Canatu - Carbon nanobud (CNB) films that are highly flexible, durable, bendable, transparent and conductive, making it ideally suited for automotive, consumer electronics and semiconductor products.
• TactoTek - Injection-molded structural electronics (IMSE) that integrates flexible printed circuitry and electronics into mass-producible 3D services which are differentiating, cost-effective and highly scalable from other solutions.
• Interventional Systems - Table-side micro-robot used during real-time image guided minimally invasive surgeries that help surgeons to accurately and efficiently place surgical tools, thus reducing surgery time and radiation exposure while maximizing accuracy.
• Neteera - Continual, contactless patient monitoring solution that collects bio-data by measuring micro-movements of skin surface using highly sensitive radar technology.
• MXD - Computer platform of the smart chassis-by-wire overlaid with software-defined vehicle (SDV) offering clear cost advantages in the development of autonomous driving computing chips.
• Piur Imaging - Hardware and software solution that turns conventional 2D ultrasound images into 3D tomographic images that provides volumetric measurements, 360 modeling and data analysis used in thyroid disease and nodule identification.
• Nanoflex - Ultra accurate and easy to maneuver magnetically steering system that guides catheters and other small microinvasive devices focused on stroke prevention and treatment.
• DriveU.auto - Teleoperation-grade connectivity ensuring reliable, low-latency connectivity for safe teleoperation of robots, autonomous vehicles, and more, using cellular bonding and dynamic encoding.

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For additional information:

Media kit with pictures

Elaine Mo
elaine@ascend-cp.com

Colin Powrie
colin@ascend-cp.com

Ascend Capital Partners

Ascend Capital Partners is a leading international venture capital and financial advisory firm committed to providing world-class corporate financial services and investment opportunities to innovative companies who have potential to grow and expand internationally, especially in Europe, Asia, and the United States. With extensive regional and international networks, and insight into Asian and Western capital market worlds, Ascend has set itself apart from other pure advisory firms and pure private equity funds. For more information, please visit www.ascend-cp.com.