Funds will strengthen Kayentis’ digitalization approach in transforming how pharma, investigator sites and patients engage in clinical trials
Grenoble, France, December 2, 2020 – Kayentis, a global provider of digital data capture systems for clinical trials, today announces it has raised €7M (approx. $8.3M) in growth capital. Kayentis’ historical investors Extens and LBO France led the round, renewing their confidence in the company’s prospects and its ability to meet new expectations in the digitalization of clinical trials. New entrant Bpifrance takes a stake in Kayentis’ capital.
Kayentis is active in the global electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA) market, which is expected to reach $2.6 billion by 2027. Market growth in eCOA – a method of capturing outcomes data electronically in clinical trials – is driven by the clinical trials industry.
In this highly regulated field, the technological robustness, simplicity and efficiency of Kayentis’ digital platform, as well as its expertise, enables pharma and biotech companies to alleviate the logistical and physical burdens of clinical trials on investigative sites and patients. This improves retention rates, increases the quality of study data and fulfils regulatory requirements. This year, it has also helped pharma & biotech, investigative sites and patients mitigate the disruptions of COVID-19 on clinical trials.
The company has grown very fast, with a CAGR of over 40% between 2017-2020, in a market that is growing at a CAGR of 15.3% in the forecast period 2017 to 2025.
“This new funding is testimony to the trust our shareholders hold in Kayentis’ potential. It shows their confidence in our abilities to fully satisfy the demands for digital data integrity and expertise in the growing clinical trials market,” said Guillaume Juge, CEO of Kayentis. “Our roadmap is geared towards providing more innovation and operational capacity to support the trend towards virtual, decentralized and remote trials, where patient-facing digital technologies are increasingly playing an important role; these provisions are pivotal in helping our clients bring important therapies to market.”
The new funding will take Kayentis beyond eCOA with more options designed to enhance the patient experience and support clinical trial digitalization; it will:
- Accelerate R&D activities – Kayentis will enrich its new eCOA platform – Clin’form3 – with new functionalities and services to support post-COVID ‘new normal’ and decentralized clinical trials
- Bolster Kayentis’ roadmap to improve the experience of patients and investigator sites during clinical trials (enabling televisits, eConsent capability and integration with external devices including wearables)
- Intensify US developments, initially by reinforcing the Boston-based US team, then expanding its footprint across North America
Franck Noiret, managing director at LBO France, commented: “We are delighted to lead this round and reinvest in Kayentis through our SISA digital health fund. Since our initial investment in 2016, the company has demonstrated its ability to grow fast. This new capital injection will enable Kayentis to accelerate its technological developments and increase its footprint on the US market. Led by a strong management team, Kayentis will play a leading role in decentralized and hybrid clinical trials.”
“Since 2015, our whole team has truly been pleased to support Kayentis in its ambitious development and successful projects,” said Cédric Berger, partner at Extens. “We are reinvesting today so that the company attains the top ranks in this global market through an enlarged product offering and a strengthened commercial presence across Asia and the Americas. We also reaffirm our full confidence in the management team and its ability to execute a winning strategy.”
“We are happy to participate in this round, aimed at accelerating Kayentis’ growth and strengthening its international market positioning; enabling it to quickly become a major player within the eCOA market,” added Benoit Zilber, senior investment manager at Bpifrance.
To download the press release:
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Legal advisors to Kayentis: Chammas & Marcheteau, Paris, France.
About LBO France
As a key player in private equity with €6.2bn of commitments, LBO France is an independent company that has been supporting French and Italian companies in their growth for over 30 years. Its investment strategy is built on four distinct segments managed by dedicated teams: (i) Mid Cap Buyout through the White Knight funds and Small Cap Buyout through the Hexagone / Small Caps Opportunities funds, (ii) Venture Capital through the SISA / Digital Health funds, (iii) Real Estate through the White Stone, Lapillus, and NewStone funds, (iv) Debt. LBO France is 100% owned by its management and employs nearly 60 professionals.
The SISA fund, its first fund dedicated to Digital Health, has ten portfolio companies: Voluntis, FittingBox, Induction Healthcare, Wandercraft, Biomodex, H4D, Kayentis, OpenHealth, BioSerenity and Stilla Technologies.
Digital Health 2, its second fund, has invested to date in four portfolio companies: QuantifiCare, Tribvn Healthcare, FeetMe and Meditect.
About Extens
Since 2014, Extens has been the reference investment fund dedicated to digital transformation of healthcare in France. It was created by a management team that brings together entrepreneurial success and performance in private equity. Extens invests in companies with high potential and supports them in their development to accelerate their growth and enable them to become market leaders. It injects amounts ranging from €2M to €12M into French or European SMEs with turnover exceeding €1M, profitable or close to. To date, Extens has acquired stakes in Enovacom (sold in February 2018 to Orange Healthcare), Kayentis, Must informatique, Discngine, Teranga, Bow Medical, Sofia development (merger of Topaze- Télévitale and Albus), Sancare, Hoppen, Sanilea, Medireport and Horizontal software. www.extens.eu
About Bpifrance
Bpifrance is the French national investment bank: it finances businesses – at every stage of their development – through loans, guarantees, equity investments and export insurances. Bpifrance also provides extra financial services (training, consultancy) to help entrepreneurs meet their challenges, such as innovation and export. www.bpifrance.com
About Kayentis
Kayentis, a global provider of digital data capture technologies for sponsors, sites and patients in clinical trials, focuses on bringing simplicity, efficiency and integrity to the collection of clinical trial data. Active in clinical development since 2003, Kayentis has, within the last ten years, specialized in electronic Clinical Outcome Assessment (eCOA) solutions for phase II/III research in a broad range of therapeutic areas. It is now expanding in the field of hybrid trials. Advances in its digital technologies include new functions and apps that facilitate integration with other clinical databases, provide flexible adaptation to clinical workflows and improve patient experience. To date, Kayentis has conducted digital data collection for over 220 clinical trials in 79 countries (13,000 sites and 80,000 patients); employing 120 different languages. Headquartered in France, Kayentis also has operations in Boston (MA) and in Tokyo (Japan).
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