InVera Medical, a Galway-based manufacturer of medical devices, intends to raise €17 million next year in order to launch a breakthrough product that it hopes will transform the way chronic venous disease is treated.

The company, which has the support of Enterprise Ireland, has already raised €4.5 million to fund the creation of the device, which intends to pioneer a quicker, less invasive approach of treating an illness that affects 12 million people in both Europe and the US.

InVera intends to sell a single-use, disposable catheter to outpatient facilities and vein clinics in the US and the EU. A vascular surgeon places it in the leg, aiming for the troubled vein. Once the catheter is in place, the surgeon can unfold an InVera mechanical ablation tip to scar the valve’s interior and start the body’s natural healing process.

InVera’s next Series A round will bring the total amount it has raised over the last three years to more than €20 million because it has also received millions of euros in grants for its product.

Stephen Cox, Nigel Phelan, and Sean Cummins launched the business in 2018 after participating in NUI Galway’s BioInnovate program, which supports entrepreneurs with business ideas to address unmet needs.

As part of a €440 million investment in this region, US healthcare business Abbott Laboratories has announced plans to generate 1,000 jobs.

The company plans to use the funds to develop its facilities in Donegal and build a brand-new, greenfield manufacturing facility in Kilkenny.

Abbott has been operating in Ireland for more than 75 years and currently employs 5,000 people.

It also has operations in Clonmel, Cootehill, Dublin, Longford, Sligo, and Galway in addition to Donegal and the new factory that will be built in Kilkenny.

Planning approval is required for the new 250,000 square foot manufacturing complex, which will be situated on the IDA Business and Technology Park in Loughboy, Kilkenny.

The US multinational will be able to dramatically increase production thanks to the new facility in order to fulfill the demand for the FreeStyle Libre technology for diabetics, which has increased from 400,000 to more than 4 million users over the previous five years.

600 new jobs will be created in Co. Cork by the medical equipment company Stryker. The company is a leader in the use of additive manufacturing, often known as 3D printing, to create specialised medical devices for disorders involving the knees, hips, shoulders, ankles, craniomaxillofacial region, and spine.

Stryker opened their plant in Anngrove in 2016 and has been advancing additive manufacturing within the MedTech sector for more than 20 years.

The AMagine Institute’s headquarters, the company’s center of excellence for developing ground-breaking innovations from preliminary research to full commercial launch, are located in the Anngrove complex in east Cork.

The company already has approximately 4,000 employees working at its Cork, Limerick, and Belfast operations.

The new 156,000 square foot building provides space for 600 potential high-tech jobs.

Medtech giant Medtronic is expanding its global center of excellence by 200 research and development (R&D) positions at its Parkmore facility in Galway. The new jobs are a part of a $30 million (€29.9 million) investment in its operations.

The news coincides with the business’ 40th anniversary in Ireland.

With 4,000 employees currently working in this nation, Medtronic is one of the more significant global corporations present here.

In addition to manufacturing, the company has facilities in Ireland for new product development, process engineering, customer innovation, and international shared services.

Dublin serves as the location of its corporate headquarters.

In the early stages of the Covid pandemic, the company’s other Galway site, Mervue, played a crucial role in increasing its supply of ventilators. The Galway plant supplies all of Medtronic’s ventilator sales in the US, which account for one-third of the market.

When Covid hit, the plant, which was producing 200 ventilators a week, increased production five-fold over three months to 1,000 ventilators a week in June, more than doubling its workforce.

Seen as candidates for investment from the EIC accelerator program are InVera Medical, Loci Orthopaedics, Selio Medical, and Ovagen.

InVera Medical and Loci Orthopaedics, based in Galway, Selio Medical, based in Dublin, and Ovagen, based in Mayo, were among the organisations chosen for the accelerator program’s March 2022 call, which picked 74 organizations from 18 European nations to receive a combined €382 million in investment. A shortlist of more than 260 start-ups was chosen from more than 1,000 applicants for the accelerator.

Based on the amount of funding that was recommended in the round, Ireland came in fifth. Higher-ranked businesses came from Germany, France, Finland, and the Netherlands.

The accelerator offers grant funding of up to €2.5 million for innovation development costs and direct equity investments of up to €15 million, managed by the EIC Fund, for scale-up and other pertinent costs in order to support high-potential, high-risk start-ups, scale-ups, and SMEs in developing innovations. Companies who are making good progress in commercialising goods that have the potential to open up new markets or disrupt those that already exist are eligible for the program.

Ovagen:

Ovagen will now have received two grants from the EIC. For use primarily in the pharmaceutical business, the biotechnology company has developed a method for manufacturing germ-free chicken eggs and germ-free birds.

Loci Orthopaedics:

The Loci Orthopaedics medical device company received more than €8 million in finance, including a €5.5 million equity investment and €2.5 million in grant money from the European Investment Bank. The business has created a brand-new implant to treat arthritis in the thumb base joint.

Selio Medical:

Selio Medical, a Dublin-based company that has created a medical tool intended to remove problems in lung biopsies, said it intends to double its employees as it draws closer to commercialising the product.

InVera Medical:

A medical gadget for the treatment of venous leg ulcers has been created by InVera Medical. The funding, according to chief executive Stephen Cox, represented a significant advance in carrying out the organization’s goals to assist millions of people.