Interview with Aurélie Viaux, Investment Director at Sofimac Innovation

Sofimac Innovation isamong the investors who participated in AcuSurgical’s fundraising round of nearly €6 millionfor its robot designed for retinal surgery. We spoke with Aurélie Viaux, Investment Director. 

It was in May 2018, as part of funding from the SATT Axlr, marking the start of the development project that would lead, two years later, to the creation of the Montpellier-based startup AcuSurgical. Two surgeons from Saint-Étienne joined the team in the meantime to contribute their clinical expertise. The team was then bolstered by the recruitment of an OCT (Optical Coherence Tomography) imaging specialist over a 12-month period, thanks to the program Companies on Campus. Philippe Poignet, as a co-founder, will receive the 2020 MUSE Innovation Award.

Using advanced robotics, AcuSurgical aims to make ocular microsurgery safer and more accessible by significantly improving the precision of surgical procedures. The robotic platform has already demonstrated its feasibility, with an initial prototype validated in preclinical trials.

With this funding round led by Mérieux Equity Partners, Supernova Invest, Sofimac Innovation, and IRDI Capital Investissement, the company will conduct clinical trials and obtain regulatory approval for its first indication—vitreoretinal surgery—thereby paving the way for new applications for ophthalmic surgeons.

A AV: Could you briefly summarize what Sofimac Innovation is?
Sofimac Innovation is a member of the Sofimac Investment Manager Group (comprising Sofimac Innovation and Sofimac Région), which was founded 40 years ago and is one of France’s leading investors in startups and SMEs, with over €750 million under management, including more than €400 million dedicated to innovation capital.

Our areas of scientific expertise are engineering and health sciences. We also have a unique multi-regional presence (with 8 regional offices), which allows us to work closely with innovation ecosystems and funded startups.

A AV: You recently invested in AcuSurgical through your new Pertinence Invest 2 fund. Can you tell us a little more about this fund and its strategy?
The Pertinence Invest 2 (PI2) fund was created in partnership with some twenty partner institutions, including engineering schools and universities in major innovation hubs. Its primary goal is to finance deep-tech startups that originate from or are linked to the academic world.

We also wanted to bring major corporations, mid-sized companies, and SMEs on board with this fund so they could build relationships with our startups at an early stage as part of a collaborative open innovation approach. As a result, companies such as bioMérieux, Michelin, and Seb, as well as some outstanding mid-sized firms, have joined us to help accelerate the growth of our startups.

The fund currently has €41 million in capital, and we are targeting a maximum size of around €50–70 million at the second closing. It invests in the pre-seed and seed stages, with the ability to support its portfolio companies in subsequent funding rounds, adopting a patient capital approach.

A AV: Why did you choose to invest in AcuSurgical in the Montpellier area?
The startup AcuSurgical is fully aligned with Pertinence Invest 2’s investment strategy, as its technology stems from a collaboration between the robotics laboratory at LIRMM (a joint research unit of the University of Montpellier and the CNRS) and ophthalmic surgeons at the St. Etienne Hospital Center (Jean Monnet University).Furthermore, it also aligns with the sectors we target with this fund, as it sits at the intersection of healthcare, robotics, and AI.

Finally, Montpellier is a region where we have historically made successful investments in companies such as Microphyt, Bulane, and Algodone. We believe the potential for innovation is very strong, and the startup AcuSurgical is a fine example of this.

A AV: Now that you’ve invested, what does your support for this startup entail?
As part of AcuSurgical, we’re working with Christophe Spuhler and his team to address all the technical and regulatory issues necessary for bringing their product to market.

Generally speaking, once the investment is made, we continue to work closely with the founder(s) to execute the development roadmap outlined at the outset. We also serve as a sounding board for founders who want to challenge their decisions. You should truly view us as a trusted, long-term partner!

A AV: How do you identify the startups you invest in?
Thanks to our regional offices, we are an integral part of innovation ecosystems, which allows us to identify promising projects at a very early stage. We also regularly serve as advisors to certain startups until their fundraising efforts come to fruition.

Furthermore, given our fund’s positioning, we work closely with universities and engineering schools to foster startup creation. This necessarily involves giving presentations to explain the benefits of having a seed investor—we regularly strive to demystify our role! We also try to highlight key success factors and challenge even the most nascent projects.

A AV: What are your goals for 2021?
We are convinced that French universities and engineering schools have significant potential for commercialization and startup creation—we hope this fund will enable us to be a driving force in this area. We are therefore working to expand our network of academic partners in regions we consider relevant. We are also working to organize events in 2021 that bring together the academic and industrial worlds, which are eager to collaborate more closely. This would also be a wonderful opportunity to showcase our French research labs.

Finally, we will continue to invest and play our part in supporting the economy, just as we have done since the first lockdown (9 investments made to date)!