Phosphoenix Raises €1.3 Mn to Prepare for First Human Clinical Study

The new funding will support preparations for Phosphoenix’s first clinical study involving human participants. It will also help the company continue developing its neurostimulation system.

The round includes continued investment from existing backers, including TTT Medtech Fund, managed by 819 Capital, FIRST Fund, managed by BioGeneration Ventures, and Innovatiefonds Noord-Holland. ROM InWest is a new investor in the round.

Hans Brons, Chief Executive Officer of Phosphoenix, commented, “This financing represents an important step towards bringing our technology into the clinic. The continued support of our existing investors, together with the commitment of ROM InWest, provides strong validation of the progress we have made and enables us to advance our first-in-human preparations while building towards our Series A financing. Our ultimate goal is to restore meaningful functional vision to people living with profound blindness.”

Sara Schaafsma, senior investment manager LSH at ROM InWest, said, “Phosphoenix is developing a potentially life-changing technology for people living with profound blindness. We are impressed by the combination of scientific excellence, strong clinical relevance, and the team’s progress towards clinical validation. With its roots in Amsterdam through the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Phosphoenix is also an excellent example of how scientific innovation from our region can translate into societal impact. We are pleased to support the company as it advances towards its first-in-human study.”

Phosphoenix was founded in 2019 by Prof. Pieter Roelfsema, Prof. Xing Chen and Dr. Bert Monna. The company is a spin-off from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN), which is part of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).

Phosphoenix is a neurotechnology company working on a prosthesis designed to stimulate nerve cells in parts of the brain involved in visual perception. The goal is to help people with severe vision loss regain some level of functional vision.

The company says blindness can significantly affect a person’s independence, mobility and quality of life. For many people with damage to the retina or optic nerve, there are currently no effective treatments that can restore functional vision.

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