LaNua’s technology aims to save lives and lower hospital costs with broad applications across oncology and vascular diseases.
Irish medtech LaNua is preparing to scale up its operations in the US after raising $6.3m in a seed funding round co-led by Elkstone and Atlantic Bridge, with participation from Enterprise Ireland and Furthr VC.
The company is developing a groundbreaking technology that makes it easy, safe, and cheaper for doctors to treat internal bleeding, vascular malformations and many benign and malignant tumours.
“Having performed thousands of embolisation procedures, I strongly believe this next-generation embolisation device is a transformative platform technology”
A spin-out from University College Dublin (UCD), La Nua was founded in 2024 by interventional radiologist Dr Cormac Farrelly, Tom Fitzmaurice (ex-Medtronic VP) and UCD biomedical engineers Dr Eoin O’Cearbhaill and Dr Sajjad Amiri.
An Irish medtech game-changer
The Irish company’s new Ecore medtech device aims to help improve patient outcomes, lower hospital costs, minimise duration of hospital stays, and reduce stress and procedure times for practitioners.
“We are delighted to complete this $6.3m seed round bringing on board sophisticated and experienced medical technology investors in Ireland and the United States,” said LaNua’s CEO Tom Fitzmaurice.
“It will enable our team to hire additional skilled resources, develop a range of devices to meet the growing demands of embolisation in the interventional radiology medical community and gain entry into our first market in the United States.”
Currently, the global embolisation market is worth $2.2bn and is expected to reach $3.88bn in 2031, driven by increased incidences of vascular diseases, cancer and growing demand for minimally invasive surgeries.
Encore will help to modernise embolization procedures – a technique used by surgeons and radiologists to control the flow of blood in certain areas of the body. Designed to enhance the safe and targeted delivery of tools used to block blood flow, the umbrella-shaped device will enter blood vessels deep within the body and form an occlusive barrier.
“Having performed thousands of embolisation procedures, I strongly believe this next-generation embolisation device is a transformative platform technology,” said Consultant Interventional Radiologist, CMO and co-founder Dr Cormac Farrelly.
“It will not just make existing procedures safer and more effective, but will also enable new clinical applications for minimally invasive embolization procedures worldwide.”
The device can be used in oncology, and in the treatment of benign tumors, malformations and hemorrhage. LaNua is initially targeting treatments used to enable liver cancer patients to safely receive potentially curative surgery. For example, a combination of embolization and surgery has increased 5-year survival rates by 45% for colorectal cancer, which spreads to the liver in 60% of patients. By improving the efficacy and safety of targeted therapeutic delivery in embolization, LaNua’s Ecore device can potentially push survival rates above 80%.
“LaNua Medical exemplifies Ireland’s continued excellence and innovation in the medtech sector,” said Niall McEvoy, head of Venture at Elkstone.
“As an early investor in pioneering companies like LetsGetChecked, Luminate Medical and Croi Valve, we at Elkstone have seen firsthand how Irish Health Tech and MedTech start-ups can revolutionise patient care on a global scale. LaNua, led by an experienced founder team, has the potential to become another great success story, and we look forward to supporting the company on that journey.”
LaNua will seek international partners to build out its clinical and commercial value proposition as part of its efforts to gain access to multiple markets including the US. The company is currently hiring for roles across R&D and quality based in ATU iHub in Galway and NovaUCD in Dublin to support development, design validation and regulatory approval.
Dominik Leisi, investment manager at Atlantic Bridge, said: “We are delighted to co-lead the LaNua Medical Seed round and support the team on their mission to launch the Ecore devices in 2027. We are confident that LaNua Medical, combining decades of industry and clinical expertise, has built an excellent foundation on which to successfully advance the development of the Ecore™ devices with the ultimate goal of improved patient outcomes.”
Damien McCarney, senior development advisor at Enterprise Ireland, added: “Enterprise Ireland is delighted to have partnered with LaNua Medical at each stage of its rapid growth journey through research commercialisation, our flagship High Potential Start-up Programme and in international markets.
“The company’s groundbreaking technology not only has the potential to transform patient outcomes globally but also reinforces Ireland’s position as a leader in medtech innovation. We look forward to working with the team as they continue to scale internationally and bring their transformative devices to the US market.”
Main image at top: LaNua co-founders CMO Dr Cormac Farrelly and CEO Tom Fitzmaurice
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