Sunrise Raises €17 Million in Funding

Sunrise has received a €17 million funding infusion led by Kurma Partners and the European Innovation Council (EIC Fund). The startup firm has also obtained regulatory approval in Europe and the United States. 

“This latest fundraising operation, together with our accreditation, confirms our ambition to improve access to treatment for the 1 billion people worldwide who suffer from sleep apnea,” Sunrise CEO Laurent Martinot said. “Studies show the vast majority of these people are unaware of this disease. Sleep apnoea is probably one of the most common and under-diagnosed chronic diseases in the world.”
 
The new financing confirms the confidence of its historical investors, VIVES IUF and Namur Invest. New investors such as Sambrinvest, IMBC, InvestBW, Sofinex, and EIC Fund now join Sunrise. The latest funding is adds to the €12 million Sunrise has raised since its inception. The startup hopes to accelerate its growth with two major moves in the coming months: commercializing its technology in the United States and hiring new talent. Sunrise aims to multiply the size of its teams by 10-fold in the next five years.

“The EIC Fund has established itself as a strong force in EU deep-tech investments. This unique form of financing via EIC—combining grants and equity—is proving itself highly attractive to Europe’s most promising startups, and providing them with the means to develop and scale their businesses in Europe,” EIC Fund Board Member Hermann Hauser stated.
 
Sunrise has received U.S. Food and Drug Administration and MDR approval of its second-generation technology. The company has also been awarded the SleepTech Award 2022 by the American National Sleep Foundation.
 
“Sunrise’s solutions will change the lives of millions of people around the world who suffer from sleep disorders today. Their clinical performance technology is the first to provide patients with a simple, accessible and uniquely accurate sleep analysis solution,” said Philippe Peltier, a partner at Kurma Partners.
 
Launched in 2015, Sunrise currently employs about 30 people. The firm’s artificial intelligence-powered technology analyzes a new signal on the human body, jaw movements, and other common apnoea signals, from a single sensor simply placed on the chin.
 
Kurma Partners is a player in healthcare and biotechnology funding across Europe. The venture capital group invests in high-potential companies and startups to support their development. Kurma Partners’ aims to contribute to innovative solutions for diagnosing and treating  serious diseases. 
 
The European Innovation Council Fund from the European Commission is an agnostic fund: it invests across all technologies and verticals, and all EU countries and countries associated to Horizon Europe. It provides the investment component of the EIC Accelerator blended finance. The main purpose of EIC Fund is to support companies in the development and commercialisation of disruptive technologies, bridging with and crowding in market players, and further sharing risk by building a large network of capital providers and strategic partners suitable for co-investments and follow-on funding. The Fund pays particular attention to the empowerment and support of female founders as well as the ambition to reduce the innovation divide among EU countries.
 
The VIVES Inter University Fund was created in 2020 on the initiative of the UCLouvain. It aims to invest in projects with a positive impact on society and to support companies at different stages of their development. Through its partnerships, VIVES IUF relies on a network of multi-sectoral experts to strengthen the development of high-quality innovations.