Sabadell Asabys leads a 14 million round in French 'startup' Gradient

The Barcelona-based management firm Asabys Partners, specialized in the biotechnology and health sector, continues to find investment targets for its new fund Sabadell Asabys II, whose main investor is Banco Sabadell. The firm led by Josep Ll. Sanfeliu and Clara Campàs has led a Series A round of 14 million euros in the French startup Gradient Denervation Technologies, which has developed a device for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension.

According to Asabys, with the funds received, Gradient will be able to continue with the clinical development of a new ultrasound-based ablation catheter that is minimally invasive and represents an innovative solution for patients suffering from pulmonary hypertension. Thuja Capital and Sofinnova Partners, a French fund that was the first investor to support this emerging medical device company, also participated in this financing round.

Established in Paris in 2020, Gradient is based on an innovation developed by doctors Swaminadhan Gnanashanmugam and Jeffrey Feinstein within the framework of Stanford's biodesign program. The startup began the first clinical study with humans earlier this year and targets patients with pulmonary hypertension of the so-called Group 2, which consists of patients with heart failure accompanied by high pulmonary vascular resistance. According to Asabys, up to 50% of patients with heart failure suffer from this condition and, currently, cannot benefit from any approved therapy.

"Gradient's technology has the potential to become the only available treatment for patients suffering from heart failure and elevated pulmonary pressures. We are happy to join this project, at a time when the company is already ready to demonstrate the concept of its technology in the clinical phase," explains Sylvain Sachot, partner at Asabys Partners.

So far this year, Asabys Partners has made four investments after launching its second fund, with which it managed to raise 100 million euros. In March, it invested in DeepUll, a firm specializing in medical technology for the early identification of sepsis and other acute infections. Also with Sofinnova, in June it invested in Nuage Therapeutics, a spin-off from IRB Barcelona and ICREA that has developed a technology platform for the discovery of new drugs. Finally, in July it acquired a stake in the biotechnology company Orikine Bio, which emerged from a research team at the Centre for Genomic Regulation of Barcelona (CRG) and has managed to design a new type of proteins to treat autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.