Gradient Denervation Technologies announces appointment of Martin Grasse as Chief Executive Officer

April 7, 2022 – Paris, France

Gradient Denervation Technologies, a Paris-based medical device company developing a minimally-invasive solution for the treatment of heart failure patients with pulmonary hypertension, announced today the appointment of Martin Grasse as Chief Executive Officer. With over 15 years in the medical device industry, Grasse joins the company as it works to freeze the design of its novel catheter-based system and prepare for early clinical trials.

Based on a concept developed within the Stanford Biodesign program, Gradient Denervation Technologies (“Gradient”) builds on an innovation from two clinicians, Dr. Swami Gnanashanmugam and Dr. Jeffrey Feinstein.

The company raised seed financing from Sofinnova Partners in 2020 and since then has been managed by the team at Sofinnova MD Start, a medtech accelerator that actively works with clinicians and entrepreneurs to develop disruptive medical devices. The company also secured additional non-dilutive funding via two grants from BPI, France's state-backed investment bank, through the i-Lab innovation contest and the Deeptech program.

“We are very excited to have Marty onboard to guide Gradient on the next steps of the company’s journey," said Anne Osdoit, Partner at Sofinnova Partners and a member of the Sofinnova MD Start team. "His experience in building early-stage ventures and strategically de-risking development programs is a perfect fit for Gradient.”

Prior to joining Gradient, Grasse held operational roles in numerous venture-backed medical device companies including Ablacon, EPIX Therapeutics, Cibiem and Bridgepoint Medical. He also served as Operating Partner at Ajax Health. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

“I’m thrilled to be joining Gradient to work with the team to bring this breakthrough therapy to patients. Pulmonary hypertension is a debilitating condition, especially in those patients with heart failure. The Gradient approach has the potential to significantly improve outcomes for these underserved patients,” said Grasse. “Operating within the Sofinnova MD Start medtech accelerator, we are plugged into a rich ecosystem of resources, positioning Gradient for success.”

Gradient is developing a solution designed to restore the benefits of a healthy, elastic pulmonary artery, which in turn reduces cardiac workload, enhances blood flow and brings pulmonary pressure back under control.

Sofinnova MD Start is comprised of a team of serial entrepreneurs using a unique model to discover and nurture ground-breaking ideas for therapeutic medical devices. Its goal is to create and build companies to turn the best of these ideas into tools that practitioners can use to save and improve patients’ lives.

About Gradient Denervation Technologies

Gradient Denervation Technologies is developing a device-based, minimally invasive solution for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension in patients with heart failure with technology developed by two clinicians from Stanford University, Dr. Swami Gnanashanmugam and Dr. Jeffrey Feinstein. It is a privately held portfolio company of Sofinnova Partners, financed through the Sofinnova MD Start III Fund and based in Paris, France. For more information, please visit: https://www.gradientdenervation.com.

About Sofinnova Partners

Sofinnova Partners is a leading European venture capital firm in life sciences, specializing in healthcare and sustainability. Based in Paris, London and Milan, the firm brings together a team of professionals from all over the world with strong scientific, medical and business expertise. Sofinnova Partners is a hands-on company builder across the entire value chain of life sciences investments, from seed to later-stage. The firm actively partners with ambitious entrepreneurs as a lead or cornerstone investor to develop transformative innovations that have the potential to positively impact our collective future.

Founded in 1972, Sofinnova Partners is a deeply-established venture capital firm in Europe, with 50 years of experience backing over 500 companies and creating market leaders around the globe. Today, Sofinnova Partners has over €2.5 billion under management. For more information, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com

For more information about Sofinnova MD Start, please visit: www.sofinnovapartners.com/strategy/md-start


Media Contact:
Charlotte Cave
Chief Operating Officer, Gradient Denervation Technologies
Email: charlotte@gradientdenervation.com
Phone: +33 (0)6 63 84 25 01