€6.6m investment for UCD-based medical device company FIRE1

Posted: April 14, 2016

• Medical device company FIRE1 raises €6.6m investment
• Firm is developing remote monitoring device 

University College Dublin-based company Foundry Innovation and Research 1 (FIRE1) has raised €6.6m from investors for the development of a new medical device.

(opens in a new window)FIRE1 says it is developing a “novel remote monitoring device”. The firm raised the investment for the device through series B financing, which refers to a second round of financing for a firm by private equity investors or venture capitalists.

The company raised the €6.6m from existing investors including leading venture capital firms (opens in a new window)Lightstone Ventures and (opens in a new window)New Enterprise Associates, as well as (opens in a new window)Medtronic. 

FIRE1 is based at NexusUCD, the Industry Partnership Centre at University College Dublin. 

The medical device company has appointed Conor Hanley as its President and CEO. It has also appointed John Britton as Vice-President of Commercial Operations and Fiachra Sweeney as Senior Director of Engineering. 

FIRE1 is the 15^th medical device company founded by medical device incubator (opens in a new window)The Foundry.

Dr Conor Hanley (pictured), who FIRE1 appointed as its CEO and President.

With this financing, Foundry Managing Director Mark Deem was also appointed Chairman of the Board.

“We are in a very strong position to accelerate the development and commercialisation of our first product,” said Conor Hanley, FIRE1, CEO and President.  

“This investment underscores global unmet needs in healthcare delivery, especially in predicting the onset of major diseases.” 

Conor Hanley was previously CEO and co-founder of BiancaMed, a (opens in a new window)UCD spin-out company which commercialised a novel method of providing connected health solutions. In 2011, BiancaMed was acquired by ResMed, where Mr Hanley also led the firm’s Chronic Disease Management Solutions division.

He received a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the (opens in a new window)University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from (opens in a new window)INSEAD, and a First Class Honours B.E. from UCD.

Silicon Valley joins $7.5m investment in Irish medtech startup FIRE1 | Ibec - Newsroom: (opens in a new window)https://t.co/XR3q4D6jas

— Ibec (@ibec_irl) (opens in a new window)April 12, 2016

“By locating at NexusUCD, our Industry Partnership Centre, FIRE1 and UCD will mutually benefit from the close proximity and interaction by the company with UCD researchers and academics working in this key research area,” said Brendan Cremen, UCD Director of Enterprise and Commercialisation.

The Foundry was founded in 1998 to rapidly turn the best concepts into successful new medical device companies.

NexusUCD offers high-quality modern office space, with short-, medium- or long-term occupancy arrangements, and associated services to established innovation-led companies that are collaborating, or wish to collaborate, with UCD’s world-class research base.

By: Jamie Deasy, digital journalist, University Relations UCD