As has now become known, there is an investor solution for Smart4Diagnostics, which had to file for insolvency shortly before Christmas 2023. Venture Targeter 3 AB, a subsidiary of Swedish venture capital firm Katalysen Ventures AB, which is backed by a group of investors from Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the USA, has acquired the business operations retroactively as of March 1 and also taken over the entire workforce. Insolvency administrator Elske Fehl-Weileder from Schultze & Braun says:
“I am very pleased that the restructuring and reorganization have been successful. Smart4Diagnostics can now expand its core competence in the area of digital tracking of laboratory samples, the so-called preanalytics, and take the application to the next level.”
She continues:
“That there is now a future perspective for the world’s first digital and automated quality assurance for human blood samples was largely due to the great commitment of the employees, who very much identify with the company and the solution that they largely developed themselves”,
New quality standard for medical diagnostics
Smart4Diagnostics was founded in 2018 by Julia Flötotto, Hans Maria Heÿn, Malte Dancker, and Timo Böge. For very practical reasons, as Timo Böge reported in an interview with Munich Startup:
“Our founding team didn’t come out of the university with a technology, but rather we came with a problem from practice. In our previous work in the laboratory and hospital, dealing with blood samples, we identified a quality problem, but found no sensible and timely solution on the market. That’s why we decided to develop a solution.”
With the digital system Smart.Safe.SamplesTM of the Munich startup, (human) blood samples can be digitally and automatically tracked from collection in a doctor’s office or clinic to examination in the laboratory. Integration into the workflows of all parties involved is intended to enable a new quality standard for medical diagnostics and a complete data chain for every human blood sample.
Positive outlook for 2024
Robin Nagel from Smart4Diagnostics, who will lead business operations going forward, is convinced of the investor solution:
“Our partners believe in the Smart4Diagnostics solution just as we do and have supported us during the past months. With the investor solution now found, Smart4Diagnostics is positioned so that the company can not only look positively at 2024, but also make investments to further develop the software”
Peter Almberg, CEO of Katalysen Ventures AB, explains his decision to invest in the Munich company as follows:
“What convinced us about Smart4Diagnostics is that there is enormous market potential for digital solutions in preanalytics. We want to develop this further together with the team and take it to the next level.”
According to its own information, Smart4Diagnostics works with around 15 laboratories. Furthermore, the Munich startup is – also according to its own information – participating in various international tenders with a volume of several million euros together with partners from the medical sector, although decisions are not expected until later this year.
