Navarre manager Clave Capital has opened an office in Catalonia and closed its first investment, of one million euros, in D-Sight: a company created by researchers from the Vall d'Hebron Hospital Research Institute (VHIR) that is developing a drug to treat blindness in diabetic patients.
Santiago Lozano, director of funds at Clave Capital, points out that the investment was made by the Innohealth fund, with which the manager won in 2021 the contest to manage investment in innovation in health from the CDTI (a body dependent on the Ministry of Science and Innovation). . The fund has made its first closing, of 50 million euros, of which the CDTI contributes about 40, and expects to reach 65 million.
"We have reached an agreement with CaixaBank to look for institutional investors," he said. Clave manages investments of 140 million, which include solar parks, venture capital that invests in industrial SMEs and five technology funds, including those promoted by the University of Navarra, Valencia and the Mondragón Group.
Lozano explains that Clave has decided to open an office in Barcelona (it already has two others in Madrid and Valencia) "because there are many interesting projects here and we see that they will have a lot of weight in our new fund". Thus, Innohealth expects to enter between 20 and 30 projects, with amounts between 2 and 3 million in different phases, "and surely a dozen could be in Barcelona".
D-Sight is a spin-off of VHIR, directed by Carla Maté and promoted by doctors Cristina Hernández and Rafael Simó, hospital specialists in diabetic retinopathy. The round calls for completing phase 2 trials of the drug with the aim of licensing it to pharmaceutical companies. According to its general director, Carla Maté, "D-Sight has an innovative, low-cost, non-invasive, and effective solution" to treat retinopathy and glaucoma.
Diabetic retinopathy is the most common complication of diabetes, and the leading cause of preventable visual impairment and blindness in young people. Until now, it has been treated with lasers and intravitreal injections, "expensive solutions with a multitude of associated adverse effects," Maté said.
