Two French start-ups have won the ‘Paris Boston MedTech Award’. Awarded by the City of Boston and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, this award recognizes their innovation and potential for entry to the US market. Part of an extremely successful medical company cluster within Paris, these young companies have achieved an extremely valuable opportunity above all other potential candidates.
Since 2012, French Tech Hub – the France-focused start-up supporter and incubator – has enabled French tech and medical companies to branch out into other areas of the world that would normally be beyond their reach, in this case the United States of America. Boston is well known even within the United States for its history of technological and medical advancements. It is a fantastic place to spearhead an American expansion onto US soil. It is home to some of the most prestigious hospitals and medical schools in the world, as well as the medical staff to match. It was home to the first real example of effective anaesthetic in 1846 and has since then been a world leader in medical research and innovation. Already a very healthy part of the Paris tech ecosystem, the two award winners – DAMAE Medical and Neurallys – now have the chance to become part of this rich and varied Boston ecosystem. And it is something they will not pass up.
In the 5 years French Tech Hub have been helping French start-ups enter the US market, 13% of them have chosen Massachusetts as their base of operations. This does not sound like a lot, until you realise that this means 26 separate French enterprises are now operating within the state thanks to French Tech Hub.
DAMAE Medical is most well known for developing the innovative technology OCTAV, which provides dermatologists with the ability to produce in-depth images of skin tissue without the need for excision and processing – both of which are unpleasant and time consuming. Founded by Anais Barut, David Siret and Arnaud Dubois, DAMAE Medical has managed to combine scientific and technical excellence to create revolutionary medical tools.
Neurallys is known for its focus on cutting edge neurology, using minimally-invasive handheld medical devices to take measurements of the brain in the event of headache or other neurological symptoms. This provides the patient / sufferer with information on what may be ailing them, as well as recording information for future scrutiny by their doctor or neurosurgeon. The device primarily measures pressure and offers self-diagnosis abilities to those who are using the equipment. This new technology is used primarily for Hydrocephalus, the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid within the brain, and is implanted with a shunt system to allow aided diagnosis and pathology follow-up, with a particular emphasis on reducing the cost of healthcare.
Both of these start-ups impressed the bi-national jury enough to accept them, and will now begin operations within the city of Boston. Past winners of this award have gone on to move their headquarters to the city and then hire locally, though it remains to be seen whether the same will be true of DAMAE Medical or Neurallys.
This has all been part of a long-running partnership between MassMedic (The Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council) and Medicen Paris Region (Paris’ primary organisation of medical companies within its famed medical tech districts). The aim of bringing the two cities closer together. This with the help of French Tech Hub which has secured more than $200 million in venture funding for companies moving to the United States from France. This is in addition to the aid leveraged by Bpifrance, the French Government’s ‘Public Investment Bank’ which aims to ‘support the growth and internationalization of companies via innovation’.