October 2, 2023. Lublin-based Polish company SDS Optic Inc., publicly listed at Warsaw Stock Exchange (NC:SDS), concluded EUR 10 million venture debt finance agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) under the InvestEU Fund for R&D project related to development and commercialization of its diagnostic and monitoring cutting-edge photonic biosensing inPROBE® platform technology.
SDS Optic Inc. discovers, develops, produces, and commercializes unique diagnostics and monitoring devices, with focus on assisting healthcare with faster, less painful diagnostics and supports targeted treatment procedures. The company merges molecular biology, advanced photonic technologies, immunochemistry, and biomedical engineering, creating first ever single cell resolution immunoassay for breast cancer real-time diagnostics, the inPROBE® HER2 breast cancer detection device.
“Our vision is to develop innovative cancer diagnostics & monitoring technologies that will help increase the cancer survival rate by 30% by 2030. We strive to achieve that by creating and implementing real-time, in vivo and numerically based photonic technologies. There is no doubt, that the European Investment Bank financial support will significantly accelerate our development and allow us to new scale-up applications to the market much faster than we assumed. This is another proof of trust we are getting from the global, renowned Institution, after very restrict verification and acceptance of our scientific data and solutions” – said Marcin Staniszewski, SDS Optic CEO
Thus, SDS Optic joined the elite group of innovative Polish companies, that cooperate with the European Institution, boosting the development and commercialization processes of unique and groundbreaking products in the field of biotechnology and medical innovation.
Vice-President of the EIB, prof. Teresa Czerwińska said: „Supporting research and innovation is one of the priorities of the European Investment Bank and we are pleased to start co-operation with SDS Optic, an ambitious Polish company specializing in the development of innovative medical diagnostic devices. EIB financing will enable the company to continue its dynamic growth and develop new technologies that will speed up diagnostic processes for the wider social benefit.”
EIB will providee the SDS Optic with venture debt financing in the amount of up to EUR 10 million (over PLN 45 million). Financing will be paid out in three tranches, after accomplishment of the well-defined milestones. One of the additional conditions for each tranche will be the issuance by the SDS Optic to EIB of subscription warrants covering up to 8.5% of the fully issued current share and conditional capital, registered on a day of signing the finance contract.
“European Investment Bank supports only to the most trustworthy and groundbreaking companies from Europe. The selection, negotiations, due diligence, and closing processes were very challenging. That proves our abilities to undertake on challenging negotiations with leading global leading institutions, conduct demanding legal and tech due diligence and bring a transaction to a successful close. That also proves our technology, business model, financials and commercials were vetted by one of the most demanding institutions. We are very proud of becoming one of the companies with EIB trust and support. On behalf of our team, I am more than happy to announce this news, especially because this is another example of SDS Optic’s ability to develop its projects while diversifying of different funding sources. SDS Optic is ready to move forward and start the implementation of our execution plan we have set for the upcoming years” – said Mateusz Sagan, SDS Optic SVP and COO
The additional guarantee agreement was signed by the European Investment Bank and SDS Optic’s daughter company FiBioMed as the original guarantor. Hence, SDS Optic will maintain all financial flows between the company and the related entity FiBioMed, ensuring stable development of a new application area from SDS Optic pipeline. FiBioMed was established to use the results of studies on the diagnostic possibilities of inPROBE® platform technology in the area of infectious diseases diagnostics.
Under the Agreement, the EIB will support SDS Optic’s investment objectives such as:– R&D personnel and market access activities,– further research and development of the SDS Optic’s related entities, incl. ongoing HER2 breast cancer diagnostics application clinical trials,– new applications scale-up and development,– covering the costs related to pre-clinical studies of new inPROBE® applications,– clinical trials of new inPROBE® applications,– expenses related to regulatory approvals,– internal research and development of new applications,– expenses related to the intellectual property protection,– development of the SDS Optic’s infrastructure and purchase of modern research equipment for the R&D center, including machines and devices for the new semi-industrial pilot production of photonic parts of inPROBE® biosensors.
SDS Optic has already accomplished several milestones for the first payment. The company has received ISO 13485 certification by notified body TÜV NORD, gathered EUR 1 million found from equity injection and completed 1 part of clinical trials for HER2 Breast Cancer microprobes.
This cooperation will not only be beneficial for SDS Optic or the EIB but, what’s more important, it will remarkably affect the future Patients’ diagnostics pathway and will increase treatment efficiency. The Project has great potential to improve the quality of life of Patients around the world, providing them with faster, less painful, and less false test results, and thus a better chances of “increasing cancer survival rate by 30% by 2023”.
More about SDS Optic: www.sdsoptic.comMore about inPROBE® technology: www.inprobe.comEverything about the European Investment Bank: https://www.eib.org/en/
EIB press release: https://www.eib.org/en/press/all/2023-358-investeu-poland-eib-supports-sds-optic-in-scaling-up-its-cancer-detection-technology
Background information
The EIB Group is the EU’s long-term financing institution, owned by its member states. It comprises of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF). The EIB Group finances investments that contribute to EU policy goals, including social and territorial cohesion, and the just transition to climate neutrality.
The InvestEU programme provides the European Union with crucial long-term funding by leveraging substantial private and public funds in support of a sustainable recovery. It also helps mobilise private investments for the European Union’s policy priorities, such as the European Green Deal and the digital transition. The InvestEU programme brings together under one roof the multitude of EU financial instruments currently available to support investment in the European Union, making funding for investment projects in Europe simpler, more efficient and more flexible. The programme consists of three components: the InvestEU Fund, the InvestEU Advisory Hub and the InvestEU Portal. The InvestEU Fund is implemented through financial partners that will invest in projects using the EU budget guarantee of €26.2 billion. The entire budget guarantee will back the investment projects of the implementing partners, increase their risk-bearing capacity and thus mobilise at least €372 billion in additional investment.
SDS Optic Inc. discover, develop, produce and commercialize unique diagnostics and monitoring tools on a global scale. The company merges vast medical knowledge with technical skills to create disruptive technologies that can revolutionize global healthcare. They are developing life-saving innovations which can help medical staff in real-time diagnosis. Company concentrates on assisting healthcare with faster, less painful diagnostics and supports targeted, effective treatment procedures.
inPROBE®, invented and developed by SDS Optic, is a device designed specifically to reduce cancer diagnostic time (from months to minutes), and increase precision and effects of advanced cancer treatments. Optical fiber tip, with an only 6-micron wide diameter, covered with a specific antibodies is the prime basis for InProbe technology. It can be used both in cancer diagnostics and therapies, and also in real-time drug delivery monitoring, in a natural state (in vivo), thus giving professionals a fast and efficient method they need.
