We are living at a time when robotics is transforming the medical field are transforming and redefining the way surgeries are performed, freeing up time for providers to engage with patients and much more. Staying in trend, a French healthtech company Wandercraft uses dynamic robotics and exoskeleton technology to make “mobility for all” a reality.
Accelerate US push
In a recent development, Wandercraft has bagged $45 million equity financing in a Series C round. This investment round was led by the US fund Quadrant Management alongside existing investor Bpifrance and new participants MACSF, Malakoff Humanis, AG2R La Mondiale, Mutuelles Impact and Sofiouest. Also, other existing investors Xange, Eurazeo, LBO France and Cemag Invest participated in the round.
Wandercraft will use this investment to fulfil its mission of “mobility for all”. It will make this possible by launching its new Personal Exoskeleton for outdoor and home use. Also, the company will accelerate the deployment of Atalante, its pioneering CE-marked rehabilitation exoskeleton in the USA.
“We are super excited to have attracted world-class investors from the USA and Europe to advance the development program of the company“, said Matthieu Masselin CEO of Wandercraft. “We are proud to have also gathered a fantastic investor team. Quadrant, with their experience in the healthcare market, is a cornerstone for our deployment in the USA. Bpifrance is a long-standing growth partner and embodies the support of France, our home country.“
“We are delighted to renew our support to Wandercraft, a company we know well”, said Emmanuel Audouard, Director of Transversal Venture Capital Investments at Bpifrance. “Wandercraft built a unique experience in robotics, medical technologies and in implementing global growth around their desire to bring autonomy to people with reduced mobility. Today, they are one of the most successful French Deeptech companies.”
“Wandercraft has succeeded in developing a revolutionary exoskeleton for the treatment of patients whose daily autonomy has been impaired,” says Stanislas Subra, head of investments at the MACSF Group, who has joined Wandercraft’s board of directors. “It is only fitting that we are delighted to participate in the rapid development of a French innovation alongside healthcare professionals.”
As a part of the financing round, Alan Quasha Chairman and CEO of Quadrant Management will join Wandercraft’s Board of Directors. “We are thrilled to lead this round of financing and to bring together these responsible investors in order to make the world better,” noted Alan Quasha.
Designed by team of engineers
In 2012, Nicolas Simon, Jean-Louis Constanza and Alexandre Boulanger founded Wandercraft in Paris. The founders gradually gathered a team of scientists and engineers around one mission: leveraging state-of-the-art dynamic walk robotics to help walking impaired people regain mobility. Eventually, Wandercraft builds autonomous walking exoskeletons. Its first version, Atalante, was commercialised in 2019 and is used by rehabilitation and neurological hospitals in Europe and North America. Atalante provides innovative care for many patients based on realistic, hands-free, crutch-free locomotion.
As it intends to accelerate into the USA market, it will come into competition with a number of prominent exoskeleton companies such as ReWalk Robotics, Ekso, SuitX and Sarcos that exist in the market. However, Wandercraft has a single-minded focus on user mobility while some of its competitors focus on the military audience among others. Besides, the company will partner with hospitals and other healthcare providers.
Wandercraft is developing a personal version of the exoskeleton for outdoor and home use. It will enable people with reduced mobility to regain autonomy in their daily activities and improve their health, both at home and elsewhere.
Real-life exoskeleton that could walk
Wandercraft’s Atalante is a self-balancing exoskeleton. It is one of the most advanced technologies in walk robotics and markets the first self-stabilised exoskeletons. It provides a new solution for mobility and improves the health of millions of people using wheelchairs. The company has demonstrated that people with paraplegia can walk like normal humans without crutches with this product.
The Atalante gives wearers the ability to walk with robotic assistance. This exoskeleton has 12 degrees of freedom that rely on walking on algorithms to determine a user’s gait. Tailored to meet rehabilitation needs, its hands-free feature allows upper limbs and trunk mobilisation, along with almost effortless early-stage verticalisation and overground walking.
Atalante enables hundreds of task-specific repetitions with minimal effort from both patient and therapist, in order to reach the therapeutic threshold. It empowers therapists to provide task-oriented, challenging, stimulating, non-repetitive, and close to activities of daily living training programs speculated to promote neuroplasticity. Atalante is designed to minimize training time for both patient and therapist.
