Berlin / Munich / Paris, Octo­ber 02, 2023 — Kranus Health, the digi­tal health company specia­li­zing in thera­peu­tic concepts in urology, announ­ces an expan­sion of its Series A to a total of $15 million. The finan­cing round is led by new inves­tor Swiss­He­alth Ventures and exis­ting inves­tor Karista. All other exis­ting backers (HTGF, Wenvest and A Round Capi­tal) also parti­ci­pa­ted again in the finan­cing. With the new capi­tal, Kranus Health, foun­ded in 2020, is now one of the best-funded health tech start­ups in Germany. The funds will be used prima­rily for internationalization.

Kranus Health mission is to revo­lu­tio­nize the field of urology, with the help of tech­no­lo­gi­cal inno­va­tions. The main goal is to faci­li­tate access to effec­tive thera­pies for urolo­gi­cal dise­a­ses. The company is ther­e­fore deve­lo­ping digi­tal solu­ti­ons for the treat­ment of a wide range of urolo­gi­cal diseases.

“Deve­lo­ping thera­pies that can be reim­bur­sed by health insu­r­ers will make quality health care acces­si­ble and afforda­ble for all. Thanks to inno­va­tive and inte­gra­tive therapy approa­ches, Kranus Health closes the care gap in urology and offers a cause-orien­ted solu­tion for pati­ents and physi­ci­ans,” says Prof. Dr. Kurt Miller, former Medi­cal Direc­tor of the Clinic for Urology at the Charité in Berlin.

With Kranus Edera, the company has alre­ady laun­ched the first digi­tal health appli­ca­tion (DiGA) as a fully reim­b­ursable “app on prescrip­tion” for the treat­ment of erec­tion problems and their causes. A study at Müns­ter Univer­sity Hospi­tal has confirmed the thera­peu­tic approach. The results of the study indi­cate an impro­ve­ment in erec­tile dysfunc­tion and quality of life. Kranus Edara offers a scien­ti­fi­cally proven option besi­des drugs like Viagra. Another product — Kranus Lutera — will also be reim­b­ursable early next year and fills a major gap in the treat­ment of benign prosta­tic hyper­pla­sia (BPH). Addi­tio­nal urolo­gic thera­pies for men and women are curr­ently being planned.

The fresh money will now be used to expand into other markets outside Germany. Back in June, Kranus Health expan­ded its presence in France by opening its third office in Paris. France is the second largest health­care market in the EU after Germany (esti­ma­ted at 281 billion euros).

“We believe that now is the right time for digi­tal health models to go global. The EU is a pioneer in inte­gra­ted care offe­rings, which are also gaining ground inter­na­tio­nally,” explains Jens Nörters­häu­ser, co-foun­der and co-CEO of Kranus Health.

Swiss­He­alth Ventures is parti­ci­pa­ting as a new inves­tor. With the inde­pen­dent Swiss­He­alth Ventures AG, the Swiss health insurer CSS has crea­ted the neces­sary struc­tures to invest in inno­va­tive start­ups in the health­care sector.

“Our belief in Kranus Health’s approach to inte­gra­ted urolo­gic care aligns perfectly with our mission to drive trans­for­ma­tive change in health­care and improve its acces­si­bi­lity and effec­ti­ve­ness for all,” said Philo­mena Colat­rella, CEO of CSS, on the reason for the partnership.

“We are very proud of the succes­ses of the past year: we were able to convince hundreds of urolo­gists to perma­nently inte­grate us into their treat­ment plans, helping more than thou­sands of pati­ents. In addi­tion, we have alre­ady secu­red a phar­maceu­ti­cal part­ner and are actively explo­ring addi­tio­nal part­ner­ships that will lead to further growth,” Thilo Klein­schmidt, co-foun­der and co-CEO of Kranus Health.

About Kranus Health

Kranus Health is the world’s leading provi­der of inte­gra­ted digi­tal care concepts in urology. Current products include Kranus Edera, a novel treat­ment option for erec­tile dysfunc­tion, and Kranus Lutera, a therapy for prostate enlar­ge­ment. With Kranus Edera, the company has laun­ched the first digi­tal health appli­ca­tion (DiGA) as a fully reim­b­ursable “app on prescrip­tion” for the treat­ment of erec­tion problems and their causes.

One of the largest studies in the urolo­gi­cal sector, conduc­ted at Müns­ter Univer­sity Hospi­tal, has confirmed the effi­cacy of this thera­peu­tic approach and proven that Kranus Edera is a scien­ti­fi­cally proven alter­na­tive to Viagra and simi­lar drugs.

Kranus Health was foun­ded in 2020 under the scien­ti­fic leader­ship of Prof. Dr. Kurt Miller, former Medi­cal Direc­tor of the Depart­ment of Urology at Charité. The co-foun­ders and co-CEOs Jens Nörters­häu­ser & Thilo Klein­schmidt have known each other for many years through their time toge­ther at McKin­sey. Niko­lay Dimo­la­rov (Celo­nis, among others) comple­ments the four-member foun­ding team as Chief Tech­no­logy Offi­cer. The inter­na­tio­nal team at Kranus Health now consists of more than 70 employees working at the company’s sites in Munich, Berlin and Paris. Toge­ther with an expe­ri­en­ced leader­ship team, the company plans to deve­lop addi­tio­nal digi­tal thera­pies and expand its global foot­print to improve urology health­care worldwide.

About High-Tech Gründerfonds

The seed inves­tor High-Tech Grün­der­fonds (HTGF) finan­ces tech­no­logy start-ups with growth poten­tial and has supported more than 700 start-ups since 2005. With the launch of the fourth fund, HTGF has around 1.4 billion euros under manage­ment. The team of expe­ri­en­ced invest­ment mana­gers and start-up experts supports the young compa­nies with know-how, entre­pre­neu­rial spirit and passion. The focus is on high-tech start-ups in the fields of digi­tal tech, indus­trial tech, life scien­ces, chemis­try and rela­ted busi­ness areas. To date, exter­nal inves­tors have inves­ted around EUR 5 billion in the HTGF port­fo­lio in more than 2,000 follow-on finan­cing rounds. In addi­tion, the fund has alre­ady successfully sold shares in more than 170 companies.
Fund inves­tors in the public-private part­ner­ship include the German Fede­ral Minis­try for Econo­mic Affairs and Climate Protec­tion, KfW Capi­tal, and 45 compa­nies from a wide range of industries.