Ebenbuild likely to face million-dollar round

The start-up is developing an "artificial lung": a system designed to help doctors with the individual treatment of respiratory distress.

According to the Munich-based start-up Ebenbuild, it is about to secure several million euros as part of its first financing round. The investment could amount to 2.5 million euros. According to the Handelsblatt the money should be enough to offer a product in two years at the latest, which will then also bring in money. The start-up has set itself the goal of improving patients' chances of survival by improving their ventilation.

To date, founder Kei Müller has received funding of over 1.5 million euros. This has come from public funds or from companies such as chip giant Intel. The US semiconductor manufacturer works closely with the company and provides software. So far, eight people work at Ebenbuild. With the new investment, the number of employees is set to double.

Founder Müller is convinced that his development is urgently needed. He has been working on a computer-based system to help doctors treat acute respiratory distress since 2018. "Ventilation expertise is relatively rare in hospitals," Müller is quoted as saying in Handelsblatt. Even for specialists, the treatment of people with acute respiratory distress syndrome is difficult. Until now, treatment has often been based on written formulas, experience, trial and error.

Ebenbuild now wants to remedy this situation: The company's software creates a kind of digital copy of the lung. This simulates how the lung tissue expands during ventilation. According to the founder, a joint study with the University of Kiel was successful. To prevent overstretching, the program shows what ventilation should look like. Just how important such a technique can be recently became apparent during the coronavirus pandemic: the majority of coronavirus patients in intensive care units are affected by respiratory distress syndrome.