Interview with Aurélie Viaux, Investment Director at Sofimac Innovation
Sofimac Innovation isamong the investors who participated in AcuSurgical’s fundraising round of nearly 6 M€for its robot designed for retinal surgery. We sat down with Aurélie Viaux, Investment Director.
It was in May 2018, as part of a grant 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. In the meantime, two surgeons from Saint-Étienne joined the team to contribute their clinical expertise. Later, the team was further strengthened 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 undergone a proof of concept, with an initial prototype validated at the preclinical stage.
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.
To 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 more than €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 (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 have emerged from or are connected to the academic world.
We also wanted to involve major industrial companies, mid-sized firms, and SMEs in this fund so that they could build relationships with our startups at an early stage as part of a supportive 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.
To date, this fund has 41 million euros in assets under management, and we are targeting a maximum size of around 50–70 million euros at the second closing. It invests in the pre-seed and seed stages, with the capacity 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 aligns with the sectors we are targeting 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 great 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 in an advisory capacity for 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-stage investor—we’re constantly working to demystify our role! We also try to highlight some 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 tremendous potential for commercialization and startup creation—with this fund, we hope 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 will bring together the academic and industrial communities, 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)!