ABMI, a fascinating Start-Up

The company is a spin-off of five institutions: the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL) in Lausanne, the University of Lausanne, the University of Geneva, and the University Hospitals of Lausanne (CHUV) and Geneva (HUG). These five institutions have collaborated in an academic biomedical research project funded by the Cantons of Geneva and Vaud from 1999 to 2002.

The presently active ABMI founders have collaborated in this academic research project, and have established a start-up company in order to bring innovations to the market. ABMI has licensed the software produced by the research project, as well as its in-vitro simulator, and works closely with the participating institutions that continue to contribute to the development of its family of products. One of the academic institutions (CHUV) became ABMI's first customer, in 2004.


Profile

HISTORY: ABMI was founded in Jan 2003, as a spin-off of five Swiss academic institutions after a 3-year phase of fundamental research.

MARKET: Stroke is a leading cause of disability and death. Practitioners lack monitoring systems for acute and preventive stroke care. This niche market is estimated to be worth 300-500 millions CHF over the next 10 years, with a rapid expansion.

BUSINESS OVERVIEW: ABMI develops markets and sells custom and OEM monitoring systems for the prevention and treatment of stroke. Application domains include brain monitoring, neuroprotection during heart and vascular surgery and transcutaneous stenting, acute stroke care and cerebral 3D dynamic vascular imaging.

PRODUCTS: An incremental line of custom and OEM products in Doppler ultrasound, ranging from off-line embolization analysis software to automated, portable 3-D imaging of cerebral blood flows.