SEB Företagsinvest joins TeknoSeed and CapMan as QuickCool Secures EUR 2.2 million in Venture Funding

QuickCool AB, a medical device company developing a method for rapid and selective cooling of the brain, today announced that SEB Företagsinvest and TeknoSeed have joined CapMan in a second closing of a round totaling EUR 2.2 (SEK 19.5 million).

The new investment by CapMan, SEB Företagsinvest and TeknoSeed will enable QuickCool to continue its long-term development work and to launch clinical studies. The majority of the existing shares are held by the company’s management and founders together with Swedish venture capital investors CapMan and TeknoSeed.

”QuickCool is pleased to have attracted a premier group of Scandinavian venture capital companies, which will enable us to develop products in this emerging field of hypothermia treatment. The investment also provides QuickCool with an opportunity to build a strong R&D organization and to carry out the necessary clinical studies,” noted Fredrik Lindblad, Managing Director of QuickCool.

QuickCool AB is based in Lund, Southern Sweden, and was founded in 2003 by scientists and entrepreneurs. The vision of QuickCool AB is to develop brain cooling devices which reduce mortality and neurological sequelae in patients suffering from dangerous episodes of oxygen deprivation to the brain following stroke, cardiac arrest, brain trauma and neonatal asphyxia. QuickCool aims to revolutionize brain protective treatment by offering innovative techniques for early, effective and easy-to-operate cooling of the brain.

During therapeutic cooling, the body temperature is intentionally cooled down a few degrees, which provides robust brain protection. Apart from the use of thrombolytics in stroke therapy, therapeutic cooling is the only treatment which reduces mortality and neurological deficit following brain ischemia (reduction of blood flow to the brain). Therapeutic cooling is standard practice for patients following cardiac arrest in many countries. Although conventional, whole-body hypothermia is generally beneficial, brain cooling by this route is slow, the method is cumbersome and labor-intensive and it is occasionally associated with undesirable side effects.

QuickCool is developing a technology which will enable rapid cooling of the brain with the aid of a portable pump connected to nasal balloon catheters. The QuickCool minimally-invasive system accommodates a cooling device and a disposable catheter kit. The portable QuickCool device will provide efficient brain cooling in ambulance care as well as in emergency and intensive care units.

“This is an innovative technology in an emerging market of high value and we are excited about joining TeknoSeed and CapMan as lead investors to advance QuickCool’s clinical studies,“ says Rickard Malmsjö, new board member and Senior Investment Manager at SEB Företagsinvest.

“QuickCool has clearly demonstrated in pre-clinical studies that its technology effectively induces selective brain cooling and we are happy to continue supporting QuickCool in a market characterized by considerable unmet clinical need, “ says Adam Schatz, Managing Director of TeknoSeed.

For more information, please contact:

Fredrik Lindblad, Managing Director, QuickCool AB, tel. +46 46 286 38 40, +46 70 868 64 77

Rickard Malmsjö, Sr. Investment Mgr, SEB Företagsinvest, tel. +46 40 667 66 24, +46 70 763 97 24

Adam Schatz, Managing Director, TeknoSeed AB, tel. +46 46 286 87 57, +46 73 386 87 57

###

About QuickCool
QuickCool AB, headquarted in Lund, Southern Sweden, was founded in 2003 by scientists and entrepreneurs. QuickCool is a leading developer of novel, minimally-invasive techniques for rapid, safe and selective cooling of the brain. Since 2004, approximately SEK 28.5 million has been invested in QuickCool by venture capital companies TeknoSeed, CapMan and SEB Företagsinvest as well as a group of private investors, which include researchers at Wallenberg Neurocentrum and the company’s founders.
www.quickcool.se

About SEB Företagsinvest
SEB Företagsinvest is one of the leading venture capital investors in the Nordic countries and part of the SEB Group. SEB Företagsinvest is an "Ever-green" Investor with allocated capital of SEK 1.2 billion and an investment focus on Life Science, Technology and Industrial Growth. The business was established in 1995 and has invested in over 70 companies with 35 exits. The latest investments have been in QuickCool, SP Device, Tail-f and Zealcore.
www.seb.se/foretagsinvest

About TeknoSeed AB
TeknoSeed is a venture capital company, financing start-ups with ties to academia and the R&D community in southern Sweden. Since its inception in 1997, TeknoSeed has become a leading provider of early stage venture capital in southern Sweden. As a leading investor, we support our portfolio companies and help them achieve success.
www.teknoseed.se