Matignon Launches Major New European Device Fund

Europe has a remarkable tradition of clinical thought leaders who develop major new medical device technologies. In cardiology, the first angioplasty, coronary stent, and percutaneous heart valve procedures were all performed in Europe, as were the first spinal implants, just to name a few. Yet European device company start-up activity lags far behind the rate of clinical breakthroughs. There are several reasons for this, including the lack of sufficient numbers of experienced company executives to run these companies, the reluctance of academic clinicians to commercialize their new technology ideas, and the dearth of European venture capital willing to back these start-ups. Matignon Technologies, a Paris-based venture fund, sees this gap in financing of European device start-ups as an opportunity, and has just launched one of the largest European funds dedicated primarily to medical technology.

Christophe Douat, an engineer who formerly was with the Boston Consulting Group in Paris, is a director of this new venture, called Matignon Technologies II. Matignon is not a name familiar in device circles, Douat explains, largely because the group has traditionally kept a low profile. The firm Matignon Investissement & Gestion was founded in 1996 by two former senior executives of the French investment bank, Banque Worms, Christian Haas and Philippe Dhamelincourt