Xeltis Set to Secure €10 Million Equity Investment

Xeltis has passed the evaluation phase of the 2025 European Innovation Council (EIC) STEP Scale-Up call program, and is set to secure a €10 million equity investment from the Council, subject to an award decision by the European Commission and to an EIC Fund Investment Committee decision. 

The EIC STEP Scale Up call is a strategic initiative aimed at accelerating the growth of high-potential companies in the digital, deep tech, clean tech, and biotech sectors to enhance the EU’s economic and technological competitiveness. It provides equity investments of between €10 million and €30 million, targeting larger funding rounds of €30 million to €150 million. The program helps companies with transformative technologies grow faster and achieve international expansion.

Seven companies secured funding, and Xeltis was the only life sciences firm among the cohort. To be selected, companies had to demonstrate high levels of innovation and technological excellence; the potential for significant market, societal, and economic impact; and execution capabilities. As part of the award, Xeltis will also receive the STEP Seal, which allows access to complementary or alternative funding in addition to EIC Business Acceleration Services.

“To have been selected as the only life science company among this cohort of EU technology companies is a fantastic honor,” Xeltis CEO Eliane Schutte said. “Our technology, based on Nobel-Prize winning supramolecular chemistry, represents an opportunity to transform vascular surgery while also providing a PFAS-free solution in a field where innovation has stalled to the detriment of patients.”

Xeltis will use the €10 million equity investment to advance its technology and prepare to commercialization its bioresorbable vascular conduits. 

“With the EU pivotal trial readout a couple of months away, this prestigious award will allow us to start commercializing aXess, our first regenerative vascular access conduit for dialysis patients,” Xeltis Chief Financial Officer Alexander Goemans commented. “It is a tremendous validation and endorsement of our technology and also recognizes that we have the capability to bring this first-in-class technology to the market and establish Xeltis as a global leader.”

aXess is a restorative vascular access conduit that helps create new, long-term living vessels for hemodialysis vascular access. It combines the safety and patency of a fistula with the speed to treatment of an AV graft while avoiding the frequent reinterventions and complications such as infections associated with current treatment options. Currently, Xeltis is advancing pivotal trials for aXess in both the European Union, where enrollment was recently completed, and the United States.

Xeltis is a medtech company developing implants that enable the natural creation of living and long-lasting vessels. Xeltis seeks to address the limitations of currently available options for people requiring hemodialysis access grafts or cardiovascular replacements. The company’s proprietary endogenous tissue restoration (ETR) platform utilizes an advanced polymer implant that regenerates the patient’s own tissue before gradually being absorbed and leaving new, living, and long-lasting vessels in place. Xeltis claims its technology can potentially be applied to other major vascular and cardiovascular diseases. 

Xeltis is based in The Netherlands and United States . Its investors include DaVita Venture Group, EQT Life Sciences, Kurma Partners, VI Partners, Ysios Capital, Grand Pharma Group, the European Innovation Council and Invest-NL, among other public and private investors.