Dublin’s CroíValve and Lios bag €18.75m in EIC accelerator funds
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The two winning Irish companies are among 40 who collectively received nearly €230m in the latest EIC funding round.
CroíValve and Lios, two Enterprise Ireland-backed women-led start-ups, have collectively received €18.75m from the European Innovation Council’s (EIC) accelerator programme.
A part of Horizon Europe, the EIC accelerator supports innovative SMEs to scale with grant fundings and direct investments.
Trinity College Dublin spin-out CroíValve is a clinical-stage medtech developing a minimally invasive device to treat tricuspid regurgitation – a severe cardiac disease.
Currently, only a small portion of elderly patients receive surgical treatment to treat the condition due to age-associated risks. The start-up’s flagship product, called the Duo Tricuspid Coaptation Valve System, aims to provide a non-surgical way to treat the disease.
“Securing European Innovation Council funding is very impactful in supporting full alignment of our novel technology with this complex patient population, along with expansion of clinical validation of our Duo System,” said Lucy O’Keeffe, the co-founder of CroíValve.
“There is a real unmet clinical need to provide a scalable treatment option for the heterogenous patient population with tricuspid regurgitation.”
Last year, the start-up raised €16m in a Series B funding round. The company is also received support via the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund, administered by Enterprise Ireland, which supports research collaboration to drive the development of disruptive tech.
Lios, on the other hand, is a Dublin-based company creating an acoustic material called SoundBounce, which is better at dampening sound than traditionally available materials.
“This award from the European Innovation Council enables us to bring our breakthrough technology to global markets. It’s a major vote of confidence in our mission to tackle noise pollution with advanced materials,” said Rhona Togher, the co-founder and CEO of Lios.
“This is a truly exciting time for Lios as we launch pilot production. We are proud to be building a quieter, more sustainable world from Ireland, and be among the select group of women-led companies funded in this round.” The two start-ups received blended funding, which is a mix of grant funding and equity financing.
Enterprise Ireland leads the national support network for Horizon Europe which helps entrepreneurs to compete and win funding in EIC competitions. To date, 28 Irish companies have secured approvals totalling €175.5m under the EIC Accelerator Programme since Horizon Europe’s inception in 2021.
Nearly 1,000 applications were submitted to the latest edition of the funding contest, of which, 40 won a total of €229m in a combination of grants and equity investments.
“Today’s announcement is testament to the research and innovation capability of Irish companies and the vibrancy of the start-up and commercialisation eco-system,” said Minister of State for Trade Promotion, AI and Digital Transformation Niamh Smyth, TD.
“Collaboration between higher education, state agencies, investors and business creates a pathway to success and the Government through Enterprise Ireland is committed to helping enterprises like Lios and CroíValve to realise their commercial potential.”
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