Alara Group, the leading French company for the management of risks tied to both ionising and non-ionising radiation in the medical sector, is carrying out a primary fundraising transaction to add € 6 million to its equity, with support from Crédit Mutuel Equity. By bringing a financial partner into the shareholder base, the Alara co-founders, Fanny Carbillet and Philippe Frey, aim to continue deploying innovative solutions through R&D, particularly to increase the efficacy of treatments for cancer and cardiovascular diseases, as well as to grow the company internationally and diversify the sectors in which it operates.

Based in Entzheim, France, Alara Group is a holding company that oversees four companies of varying sizes and levels of maturity, each with innovative, cutting-edge expertise complementing one another. Thanks to this, the Alara Group companies are able to combine their skills in biology, physics, and digital technology.

Alara Expertise, founded in 2005, specialises in medical physics and is certified for radiation protection. The company assists medical establishments with the management of radiation protection (radiology, dentists, imaging, surgery, veterinarians) and has over 4,500 professional customers, making it a leader in its market.

Fibermetrix, founded in 2014, manufactures and develops products and services for radiation dosimetry in complex environments. The company developed IVIscan®, the world’s first detector capable of measuring in real time the dose of radiation received by each patient while undergoing imaging. Thanks to the sensitivity, speed, and radio-transparency of the fibre optic technology, the product acts as a dosimetric monitor that measures all activity inside an imaging machine and, notably, can help avoid incidents.

Spin Up, founded in 2018, specialises in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), focussing on the safety of patients and workers subjected to electromagnetic fields. Spin Up is the only company in the world capable of calibrating a flow MRI, a crucial factor for 4D flow cardiovascular imaging. Predictive imaging is capable of providing a level of patient-specific biomechanical information much greater than that of an MRI alone.

Neolys Diagnostics, which joined the Group in 2019, develops predictive tests for individual radiosensitivity. Over half of cancer patients are treated with radiotherapy and around 15% of the global population is more sensitive to radiation. Given these facts, the Neolys team developed predictive methods for the potential toxicity of radiotherapy treatments for all patients in order to limit or avoid side effects and thus increase the efficacy of the treatments. To do this, Neolys Diagnostics launched two products that are each the first of their kind in the world: RadioDetect®, which is used to detect a patient’s level of sensitivity and the risk of toxicity from radiation, based on a simple blood draw. RadioProfile®, an expert test based on analyses of skin cells, which precisely determines the potential level of toxicity for each patient.

The owner of 16 families of patents, each one for world-first technologies, Alara Group has over 80 employees and generates over € 6 million in turnover. The company is driven by the desire to use physics and biology in service to personalised medicine, while providing greater protection for patients and health care personnel.

“We have chosen to go beyond our historic core business and beyond training, auditing, and support for regulatory compliance by bringing together a team with skills that had never before been combined in our sector. This round of fundraising with Crédit Mutuel Equity, which shares our values and our strategic vision, will enable us to further our growth through R&D, but also through the deployment of export subsidiaries in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America. Additionally, we are extending our areas of business to include manufacturing, research, education, and the environment,” explain Fanny Carbillet and Philippe Frey.

“We were won over by the solutions offered by Alara Group, which have a positive social impact and are very promising. Made up of four operational units with complementary offerings, including two companies still in the start-up phase, the Alsace-based group is led by visionary managers and operates in a market with increasing regulatory constraints and a high barrier to entry, thus offering the company major potential for growth in multiple sectors both in France and abroad. We are happy to be able to support the growth of this precious French gem, which is taking on the challenge of innovation and diversification,” adds Romain Peiffer, Director of Equity Investments at Crédit Mutuel Equity.

“What reassures us and motivates us with Alara Group is the ability of its leaders to know how to strengthen the company’s historic business while adding very innovative business lines so they can provide medical personnel with more powerful and more specific management and diagnostic tools,” says Delphine Cardi, Director of Equity Investments at Crédit Mutuel Innovation, who collaborated on this transaction by providing her expertise in MedTech.

Investors

Crédit Mutuel Equity:
Romain Peiffer: Director of Equity Investments
Louis Mehl: Business Manager
Jérôme Geney: Executive Director

Delphine Cardi, Director of Equity Investments at Crédit Mutuel Innovation

Investor Experts

Legal counsel: Guillaume Jarry, Laetitia Cachin (Lerins)

Financial due diligence: Reynald Maillot (Triple A)

Legal due diligence:

Corporate: Guillaume Jarry, Laetitia Cachin (Lerins)

Tax: Gilles Coumert, Thibaut Lagnier (Viajuris)

Social: Emah Kangah (Lerins)

Alara Group

Fanny Carbillet: Chairwoman and Founder

Philippe Frey: CEO and Founder

Company Experts

Legal counsel: Pierrick Nass, Monica Delile, Olivier Bourgeois (Helory Avocats)

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