Orteq raises £8M in final closing

Funding round completed

Orteq Bioengineering, a private medical technology company, announced the final closing of its second round funding at £8 million Series B equity financing. This follows the closing of the first tranche of £4.5 million last year. The balance has been raised from a number of institutional and private investors, including over £1.5 million from Matignon Technologies, a French venture capital fund that specialises in medical technology companies.

The proceeds will be used to fund the commercial launch of Actifit knee implant in Europe, following the recent granting of approval for the product.  The cash will also allow the company to commence a US clinical trial in early 2009. 

The Actifit implant is designed to help patients regain an active lifestyle after suffering an irreparable meniscus tears. The implant provides a structure for the in-growth of new tissue in the meniscus, once the damaged meniscal tissue has been removed by a surgeon. Early clinical results at major sports medicine clinics in Europe have demonstrated pain reduction and increased functionality. 

Orteq estimates that the global market for Actifit is over $2 billion.  There were over 1.5 million meniscal injuries in 2006 in the US and Western Europe.

“We are very pleased to be a major investor in Orteq. We believe there is a strong unmet medical need in meniscus repair and Orteq’s technology has shown compelling results in terms of safety and performance which should enable the company to take a prominent role in this attractive market,” said Thierry Chignon, partner in Matignon Technologies.

Orteq Ltd, with headquarters in London, UK and manufacturing in Groningen, the Netherlands, was established in 2005 to develop and commercialise bioengineered implants for orthopaedic injuries. The company has developed Actifit, a polymer implant to encourage tissue growth and regeneration in the meniscus, a fibrocartilage cushion in the knee. The new biomaterial has unique properties that come into effect when Actifit is implanted, providing a scaffold around which the body can grow new meniscus-like tissue. Patients treated with the implant eventually regain normal functionality of the knee.

Matignon Investissement et Gestion is an independent European company with around €230 million under management, including Matignon Technologies II FCPR, one of the largest European funds dedicated primarily to medical technologies.