ExoAthlete received investments from Moscow Seed Fund and RVC Biofund
Moscow Seed Fund, together with RVC Biofund, invested RUR 16 m in ExoAthlete company. The company is a resident of Skolkovo and federal finalist of GenerationS-2014, a technology startups accelerator organized by RVC.
ExoAthlete is the first Russian company to develop and manufacture medical exoskeletons for the rehabilitation of patients with lower limb paralysis caused by a stroke, trauma or failed surgery. ExoAthlete is designed for both medical and social rehabilitation of people with the musculoskeletal disorders.
The company is planning to use the investment to finalize its first commercial version of exoskeleton and launch it on the Russian market.
Ekaterina Bereziy, the founder of the project, said: "ExoAthlete is the first Russian medical exoskeleton, which is designed to help people with disabilities. The Russian development will be a good alternative to more expensive foreign counterparts, as its cost is significantly higher, starting at $50,000. Russian medical exoskeleton is designed to walk with the use of the most natural gait pattern of a healthy person, and it also provides additional electrostimulation of the muscles."
"The financial resources provided by Biofund and Moscow Seed Fund will help the company to achieve an important goal: elaborate the design to a commercial product and launch it in the market in 2016; thousands of Russian people really need our product. The market launch of the first Russian exoskeleton will significantly improve the quality of life of the Russian people with musculoskeletal disorders and open up new opportunities for mobility and communication", Egor Beketov, the director of RVC Biofund, noted.
In addition, it is important to note that ExoAthlete became the second participant of GenerationS federal accelerator to receive investment of the fund with the participation of RVC capital. GenerationS accelerator has become a good source of interesting and promising projects for foundations and corporations.
"For our fund, our investment in this project was another step in the direction of increasing the share of of health projects in our portfolio. This area seems to us very important and we are pleased that the transaction took place," Alexey Kostrov, the executive director of the Moscow Seed Fund, said.
