Chiratae Ventures backs Polish bionics maker Aether Biomedical

Early stage investor Chiratae Ventures on Wednesday said that it has led a seed investment round in medical robotics company Aether Biomedical, with participation from Joyance Partners and Sunfish Partners.

However, the Bengaluru-based venture capital firm declined to disclose the funding amount, in response to TechCircle’s request for details.

San Francisco, California-based Joyance Partners is a $20 million venture capital firm that funds application-agnostic technologies, while Berlin-based Sunfish Partners is an early stage venture capital firm that invests in Polish deep tech startups.

Chiratae Ventures made the investment as a part of its DeepTech Innovators Program, a spokesperson told TechCircle, adding that the March-announced Deep Tech Huddle Program had to be renamed due to a copyright issue.

Aether Biomedical will primarily use the fresh capital to commercialise its bionic limb Zeus V1 across India and Europe, a statement said. The company also aims to continue its research and development efforts to build the next generation of Zeus and accessory products such as prosthetic wrists and prosthetic elbows, it added.

The rehabilitation devices maker uses artificial intelligence to improve bio-signal processing. 

Zeus, a bionic limb for upper limb amputees, uses electromyography (EMG) signals to enable amputees to lead a normal life.

In a LinkedIn post on June 17 announcing the investment, Marcus Erken, founding partner at Sunfish Partners, said that Zeus was launched in June 2020.

The global prosthetics and orthotics market, estimated to be valued at $9.2 billion in 2019, is expected to exhibit a compound annual growth rate of 4.6% till 2027, the statement said.

“India and China are considered the fastest growing in the region due to increasing aging populations, growing awareness about new technology, and the availability of funds. This is the gap Aether aims to bridge by bringing new age, scalable, insight-driven solutions. Their top markets include developing regions like India and other countries in the Asia Pacific region,” the statement added.

Prior to the current investment, the company has received funds from the Nidhi Prayas and Government of Gujarat Grant, Poland Prize Grant, RobotUnion Grant and NCBR Fasttrack Grant. It has also received support from startup accelerator HealthStart and venture capital firms Shape VC and Brinc VC, the spokesperson added.

Founded in 2016 by Dhruv Agrawal and Faith Jiwakhan, Aether Biomedical is headquartered in Poland’s Poznan and New Delhi, according to its website.

Agrawal, also the CEO of the firm, is a medical school dropout who started Aether Biomedical after receiving a 3D printer as a birthday gift. Over the years, he has built his expertise mainly in business development and medical device certification, the spokesperson told TechCircle.

CTO Jiwakhan holds a bachelors in medicine and surgery, and an advanced diploma in robotics and mechatronics.