Belgian scaleup Oncomfort raises €10 million to further develop its “Digital Sedation” through virtual reality

Today Oncomfort, a Belgian inventor of and leader in Digital Sedation (a new method for relieving patient pain and anxiety without medication) has today announced the completion of a €10 million Series A funding round, co-led by two prominent institutional investors: Debiopharm and Crédit Mutuel Innovation. Oncomfort plans to use this investment to further develop its innovative digital therapy solutions and accelerate its international expansion.

Founded in 2017, Oncomfort is a Belgian scale-up specialized in “Digital Sedation”, a completely new method for relieving patients’ pain and anxiety through treatment with clinically proven sessions of therapeutic virtual reality. Since the launch of the “Sedakit” in Benelux and France in June 2019, over 30,000 patients have been treated and have had their pain and anxiety relieved before, during, and after interventions in many clinical fields such as anesthesia, oncology, interventional radiology and cardiology, as well as pediatrics.

Oncomfort plans to use the €10 million of this Series A funding round to further develop its solution and accelerate its international expansion across the European and American markets. The investment round was realized with two leading institutional investors, the Swiss Debiopharm, and the French Crédit Mutuel Innovation (CMI), and also includes continuing support from Wallonia Innovation and Growth (W.IN.G), plus existing investors. Both institutional investors will join Oncomfort’s newly composed Board of Directors.

“We are at a tipping point in our digital therapy,” commented Mario Huyghe, CEO of Oncomfort. “The medical community has discovered the advantages and potential of Digital Sedation to relieve pain and anxiety without medication. Virtual Reality acts as an enabler for this digital therapy. Yet, Oncomfort’s true potential comes from the scientific evidence of its digital sedation and the multidisciplinary co- creation with the expertise of anesthesiologists, neurologists, psychologists, and hypnotherapists. With this Series A funding, we will accelerate our product development with a broader engineering team and invest in the international expansion of Oncomfort.”

“We are delighted to find a scientifically validated digital tool to support the overall journey of patients, which frequently includes various levels of pain, anxiety, and fear. The fact that advanced Virtual Reality in combination with hypnotherapy and integrative therapeutic techniques can be used to effectively sedate patients is truly impressive and offers an interesting option for patients to find physical and emotional relief,” explained Thierry Mauvernay, President of Debiopharm.

“Our investment in Oncomfort’s digital sedation solution is based on the strong potential of digital therapeutics as well as the specific intellectual property and scientific evidence that Oncomfort has built over recent years,” continued Karine Lignel, CEO of Crédit Mutuel Innovation.