Paperplane Therapeutics has raised $1.5 million to deal with sufferers for ache and nervousness utilizing digital actuality, presumably making journeys to the dentist extra nice.
The Montreal, Canada-based firm focuses on therapeutic digital actuality options for ache and nervousness administration in healthcare.
Glen Ventures led the spherical, with monetary help from the Gouvernement du Québec by way of Investissement Québec. Strategic buyers akin to CABHI (Centre for Getting old + Mind Well being Innovation), Cedars-Sinai Mental Property Firm, Anges Québec, and Aventure Capital additionally participated.
Ache and nervousness pose main limitations for sufferers searching for medical care, typically resulting in delays, elevated discomfort, and extra advanced therapies. This problem is especially prevalent in dentistry, the place roughly 36% of people expertise nervousness throughout dental visits, 12% undergo from excessive dental concern, and 22% postpone appointments till ache forces them to hunt care, leading to elevated prices and issues.
With this in thoughts, Paperplane is specializing in the North American dental market, aiming to reinforce affected person experiences and scientific workflows by way of its therapeutic digital actuality options.
Paperplane’s expertise addresses this problem by remodeling dental procedures—typically perceived as painful and traumatic—into extra manageable, even nice experiences by way of immersive digital actuality.
Designed for sufferers of all ages, with a selected emphasis on pediatric care, Paperplane’s options assist make sufferers extra comfy. Paperplane additionally streamlines scientific workflows and reduces the burden on clinicians.
“As an emergency doctor, I’ve seen firsthand the dearth of choices accessible for managing ache and nervousness,” mentioned Jean-Simon Fortin, CEO of Paperplane Therapeutics, in a press release. “Immediately, I’m proud to see our VR expertise filling that hole, offering healthcare professionals with a more practical strategy to help their sufferers. This funding will enable us to develop our attain, enabling much more clinicians to ship actually transformative care.”
This funding marks a major milestone in Paperplane’s development, and it’ll allow the corporate to proceed its mission of deploying digital actuality therapies within the dental sector, bettering each affected person outcomes and care supply throughout North America. Moreover, this funding will help Paperplane’s enlargement into Europe by way of a strategic partnership with French firm HypnoVR, backed by its CE Mark certification.
Michael Goodman, founding accomplice at Glen Ventures, mentioned in a press release, “Paperplane is redefining how we method ache and nervousness administration in healthcare. Their VR options not solely improve affected person consolation but additionally contribute to extra environment friendly scientific workflows. We’re proud to help 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 Answerable for the Battle Towards Racism, mentioned in a press release, “Quebec’s ingenuity has the ability to form the way forward for our healthcare system, and Paperplane Therapeutics is a first-rate instance. Our authorities is proud to help the event of options that enhance each the standard and accessibility of affected person care.”
“Paperplane Therapeutics helps place Quebec as a pacesetter in medical expertise innovation by way of 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 development.”
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 scientific trials in 2014.
Concerning the inspiration, Fortin performed a analysis undertaking on utilizing VR to handle ache and nervousness. 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 answer 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 develop these transformative VR therapies
