New success story in the Barcelona ecosystem of companies dedicated to the technology and health sector. The startup Amelia Virtual Care (formerly Psious) has just agreed to merge with the Israeli-origin US company XRHealth, which will lead to the creation of a global leader in the development of virtual and extended reality therapies to treat physical and mental health problems. The project, pending approval by the shareholders of both companies, has been led by Asabys Partners, Amelia Virtual Care's reference partner, which also has Sabadell Venture Capital as a shareholder.
"This is a merger of equals," says Xavier Palomer, founder and president of Amelia, who highlights that the new group will have a turnover of more than 7 million dollars, employ 90 people ---60 currently work at Amelia--- and will have three offices located in Boston (United States), Barcelona and Tel Aviv (Israel). Its disruptive therapeutic products will be used by more than 2,500 doctors worldwide, performing more than 500,000 virtual reality treatments on around 25,000 patients by the end of the year. "We are creating a leading company that we expect to dominate the market for deep-tech solutions for disease treatment in the next decade," says the entrepreneur, who emphasizes the great synergies and complementarity between both companies. The possibility of the new group listing on Nasdaq is already on the horizon.
For Guillem Masferrer, partner at Asabys Partners, this merger is one of the major operations announced in the healthtech sector in Europe and should fill Barcelona with pride because "from here we are creating a global leading company with disruptive technology that will help many patients feel better." Josep Ll. Sanfeliu, managing partner at Asabys, will join the board of directors of the new merged company, which will use the name XRHealth and maintain its registered office in Boston. According to Masferrer, all partners and investors of both companies will remain shareholders of the new company, although no further details have been given on how the capital will be distributed.
Masferrer: "From Barcelona we are creating a global leading company with disruptive technology that will help many patients feel better"Amelia Virtual Care, which until now had raised 13 million euros in funding, has developed an advanced software platform dedicated to the treatment of mental illnesses through the use of virtual and extended reality glasses. This technology has already been commercialized to more than 2,000 clients ---doctors, psychologists, and hospitals in 30 countries---, who pay a monthly subscription to access the images they will show patients, in sessions that can last between 15 and 20 minutes.65% of Amelia's turnover comes from the United States, where it has as a client, for example, the Army veterans' association.
On its platform there are 140 virtual environments or therapeutic contents aimed at treating anxiety, depression, pain, ADHD, different types of phobias or eating disorders, among other pathologies. "It's like a Netflix for mental health professionals," explains Palomer, who assures that the potential of the so-called Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy (VRET) is enormous. "The goal is to be able to double turnover every year," he assures.
According to Palomer, it is very important to be able to "join forces with XRHealth at a time when more and more medical professionals are adopting virtual reality as a tool to provide high-quality care and offer engaging experiences to patients." "Although virtual reality is a novel technology, it is a proven solution based on more than 30 years of scientific research," he points out.
For its part, XRHealth is a firm founded in 2016 that, until now, had closed financing rounds worth 35 million. Its shareholders include hardware manufacturers such as LG and HTC. XRHealth operates virtual therapeutic care rooms, using immersive virtual reality and augmented reality technology to treat physical pathologies, so there is great complementarity in the business. "Both Amelia and XRHealth were looking to expand into new therapeutic areas, so the merger is a strategic move that makes perfect sense and will accelerate the growth and geographical expansion of an innovative and disruptive technology based on scientific evidence," says Masferrer.
XRHealth provides medical professionals with a comprehensive therapeutic care solution that allows patients to receive treatment from their homes and treat patients with complex medical conditions such as Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis, stroke rehabilitation, and a wide range of physical health problems such as acute and chronic pain and fibromyalgia, among others, with a new approach.
"Hundreds of clinical articles have demonstrated how powerful extended reality is for patients. Now that our industry is maturing, we are ready to introduce the platform into hospitals and clinics," highlights Eran Orr, founder of XRHealth and future CEO of the new merged group.
Eran Orr: "Hundreds of clinical articles have demonstrated how powerful extended reality is for patients"Amelia Virtual Care was, in 2019, the first company in which Asabys Partners investedby leading a 10 million euro Series A round, making it an especially significant operation for the Barcelona-based management company.The support of Banco Sabadell has also been key in Amelia's growththrough a triple involvement: the entity is the main investor in the Sabadell Asabys fund, but, in addition, it has invested in thestartupthrough the programBStartup10 and through Sabadell Venture Capital, the bank's venture capital division, led by Raúl Rodriguez. Other investors have been Caixa Capital Risc, ENDRA and CG Ventures, among others.