Paperplane Therapeutics has raised $1.5 million to deal with sufferers for ache and anxiousness utilizing digital actuality, probably making journeys to the dentist extra nice.
The Montreal, Canada-based firm focuses on therapeutic digital actuality options for ache and anxiousness administration in healthcare.
Glen Ventures led the spherical, with monetary assist from the Gouvernement du Québec via Investissement Québec. Strategic buyers reminiscent of CABHI (Centre for Ageing + Mind Well being Innovation), Cedars-Sinai Mental Property Firm, Anges Québec, and Aventure Capital additionally participated.
Ache and anxiousness pose main obstacles for sufferers searching for medical care, typically resulting in delays, elevated discomfort, and extra advanced remedies. This subject is especially prevalent in dentistry, the place roughly 36% of people expertise anxiousness throughout dental visits, 12% endure from excessive dental concern, and 22% postpone appointments till ache forces them to hunt care, leading to elevated prices and problems.
With this in thoughts, Paperplane is specializing in the North American dental market, aiming to reinforce affected person experiences and medical workflows via its therapeutic digital actuality options.
Paperplane’s know-how addresses this problem by reworking dental procedures—typically perceived as painful and traumatic—into extra manageable, even nice experiences via immersive digital actuality.
Designed for sufferers of all ages, with a selected emphasis on pediatric care, Paperplane’s options assist make sufferers extra snug. Paperplane additionally streamlines medical workflows and reduces the burden on clinicians.
“As an emergency doctor, I’ve seen firsthand the shortage of choices out there for managing ache and anxiousness,” stated Jean-Simon Fortin, CEO of Paperplane Therapeutics, in a press release. “At this time, I’m proud to see our VR know-how filling that hole, offering healthcare professionals with a simpler option to assist their sufferers. This funding will permit us to broaden our attain, enabling much more clinicians to ship actually transformative care.”
This funding marks a big milestone in Paperplane’s progress, and it’ll allow the corporate to proceed its mission of deploying digital actuality therapies within the dental sector, enhancing each affected person outcomes and care supply throughout North America. Moreover, this funding will assist Paperplane’s enlargement into Europe via a strategic partnership with French firm HypnoVR, backed by its CE Mark certification.
Michael Goodman, founding accomplice at Glen Ventures, stated in a press release, “Paperplane is redefining how we strategy ache and anxiousness administration in healthcare. Their VR options not solely improve affected person consolation but additionally contribute to extra environment friendly medical workflows. We’re proud to assist an organization that’s elevating the usual of affected person care whereas pushing the boundaries of medical innovation.”
Christopher Skeete, Quebec’s Minister for the Financial system and Minister Accountable for the Struggle In opposition to Racism, stated in a press release, “Quebec’s ingenuity has the ability to form the way forward for our healthcare system, and Paperplane Therapeutics is a primary instance. Our authorities is proud to assist the event of options that enhance each the standard and accessibility of affected person care.”
“Paperplane Therapeutics helps place Quebec as a frontrunner in medical know-how innovation via its digital actuality options,” added Bicha Ngo, CEO of Investissement Québec, in a press release. “By rethinking the affected person expertise, the corporate demonstrates the immense potential of Quebec’s healthcare innovation ecosystem. With this funding, they now have the sources to speed up their progress.”
Up to now, the corporate has raised $1 million in seed spherical dilutive funding and $1 million in non-dilutive funding. The agency has seven individuals. The agency was based in 2019 however the cofounders began working collectively on R&D and medical trials in 2014.
Concerning the inspiration, Fortin carried out a analysis venture on utilizing VR to handle ache and anxiousness. Impressed by the outcomes, he teamed up with David Paquin, an knowledgeable in creation and new media, and along with college college students, they developed their first VR resolution for youngsters needing painful dressing modifications at Sainte-Justine Kids’s Hospital. Inspired by the success of those early trials, they established Paperplane Therapeutics in 2019 to commercialize and broaden these transformative VR therapies
