KOVE Medical Raises 1.6 Million Francs to Make Fetal Surgery Safer: Interview with Yannick Devaud
A Zurich-based startup, a market of 150 centers worldwide, and a CEO who builds relationships with future clients years before the first sale. A look back at a medtech funding round and the very unique go-to-market of a company selling to a community of surgeons even before having a product on the market.
At the end of August, KOVE Medical announced the closing of a 1.6 million Swiss francs round (about 1.7 million euros), funded by a syndicate of business angels. The spin-off from the University of Zurich and Zurich University Hospital is developing an implantable device that closes the amniotic membrane after fetal surgery to reduce the risk of premature birth. These funds will take it to its first human trial, planned for early 2027.
At Uclic, we like to go beyond press releases. I had the chance to speak with Yannick Devaud, founder and CEO of KOVE Medical, who kindly shared insights about the project's origin, the reality of medtech funding, and how to build a go-to-market when your potential clients fit into an Excel file.
A PhD Chosen to Build a Product, Not a Paper
Yannick Devaud was torn between medicine and mechanical engineering. He found at EPFL a field bridging the two: bioengineering, which also offered an opportunity that medicine didn’t in the same way—the chance to create something.
“I think it’s more about personality than experience. I’ve always wanted to create new things and have a direct impact on patients. There’s no doctor in my family, even distant, but plenty of tinkerers.”
After a master’s in tissue engineering and a stint in California, he wasn’t sure about doing a PhD. He gave himself a chance on one condition: it had to be in a hospital, where projects are naturally closer to the clinic. He came across a topic he hadn’t even known existed.
“I didn’t even know fetal surgery existed. The project’s theme was: fetal surgeries are performed, but the problem is many premature births. For me, it was immediately: if I find something to fix that problem, we can make a product out of it. That thought shaped my PhD choice. If it had been about studying a molecular pathway, I wouldn’t have been interested.”
The rest follows logically. During his thesis at the obstetrics department of Zurich University Hospital, his goal wasn’t to publish but to file patents. This approach caused some friction with academia, but his professor quickly realized he wasn’t a future researcher.
The Achilles’ Heel of Fetal Surgery
To understand what KOVE does, you need to understand fetoscopy. Some severe malformations, like spina bifida, twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, or congenital diaphragmatic hernia, can now be treated before birth through minimally invasive interventions performed directly in the uterus. These surgeries significantly improve the baby’s chances.
But they come at a cost. To operate, surgeons must pass their instruments through the uterine wall and the amniotic membrane. This membrane has a peculiarity: it doesn’t heal. The hole left by the instruments stays open, amniotic fluid can leak, the membrane often ruptures, and premature birth follows. This is the main complication of fetoscopy and the primary reason why this surgery remains limited to a small number of centers and indications.
The problem has been known for twenty years. Why hadn’t anyone solved it? Yannick Devaud’s answer boils down to three points.
First, it’s a niche field. Nearly a million children suffer from these congenital malformations, but the real bottleneck is access to diagnosis and treatment: about 150 centers worldwide perform these interventions.
Second, timing. “This kind of technology has been developed for twenty years. The focus was on the malformations themselves: how to diagnose and treat them. Prematurity was accepted as a side effect managed as before. It took twenty years of data for the side effect to become clear to everyone.”
Finally, someone had to decide to tackle it. “I’m one of ten people worldwide who have studied the fetal membrane: what it’s made of, why it doesn’t regenerate, its mechanics. Of those ten, 80% are surgeons who return to operating after their thesis. I came in saying: I want to solve this problem.”
A Mechanical, Not Biological, Solution
Previous attempts started from an appealing idea: help the membrane close. Inject platelets at the puncture site (amniopatch), or insert a collagen plug for cells to colonize. Yannick Devaud doesn’t believe in that.
“We have a balloon with a four-millimeter hole. How do you inject platelets precisely there without them dispersing in the fluid? And collagen assumes the membrane will regenerate. It has very few cells; it doesn’t work that way. And anyway, it doesn’t need to close biologically: three months later, there’s delivery. What’s needed is something to hold it mechanically.”
KOVE designed an implantable device that clamps the membrane to keep it closed, instead of trying to suture or heal it. The implant passes through the 3.5 mm trocar already used during surgery, with no additional puncture, and is placed in minutes. On paper, it’s simple. In practice, deploying needles and a thread through a 3.5 mm tube is a micromechanical challenge.
Geography played a role. “We moved from bioengineering to micromechanics. We have that expertise in the Swiss Jura, in our region. I’m not at all conservative about this. I’m a bioengineer, but I’ll solve the problem however I can.”
Product Status
The design is finalized. Serial assembly is set with a specialized industrial partner in Besançon, at the heart of the French micromechanics hub. Most biological evaluation (toxicity, biocompatibility) and performance tests have been done on the device as it will be produced, and design requirements are verified.
The next step is the First-in-Human study on 15 patients, planned for early 2027 in Brazil. When we spoke, Yannick Devaud was there: training surgeons, finalizing the protocol with the partner center. The contract is signed, the study funded. Only ethics committee approval is pending.
The Fundraising: Navigating the Medtech “Valley of Death”
Why business angels instead of funds? The answer is frank: it’s a constraint, not a choice.
“Even early-stage investors ask: where’s your clinical data? We’re in this gap, this valley of death: get clinical data, and then we’ll look at you.”
The 1.6 million round was built gradually, as a convertible note, over the last two years, and the company deliberately kept it lean to invest mainly in the clinical study. These are business angels convinced by the mission who accepted the risk where funds don’t yet.
The next round is already open: KOVE is seeking between 4.5 and 6 million Swiss francs to fund clinical and regulatory development after First-in-Human. Discussions are underway, and due diligence has started. The pitch to investors is simple: the clinical study will happen no matter what, and investing before results means entering at a valuation that won’t exist in six months.
An Inverted Go-to-Market
This is the part we care most about at Uclic. How do you build a go-to-market when the global market counts only hundreds of surgeons spread across about 150 centers, and you still have several years before selling the first device?
KOVE’s answer is account-based marketing in its purest form, long before the term was coined.
“We’re in constant contact with surgeons. It’s a small community; key opinion leaders know me, invite me to congresses, and ask for updates. I’m the only engineer in this community doing something for them. What they use today are off-label devices, so they’re very happy someone is developing something for them.”
Practically, Yannick Devaud is invited to the two major annual specialty congresses. He brings prototypes, puts them in surgeons’ hands, and collects feedback on ergonomics. He maintains ongoing relationships with high-volume centers—those performing 50 to 150 interventions annually—collaborating with some and regularly updating others. When the product is available, the relationship will already be there.
“It’s the opposite of a normal sale. In other fields, you have to ask and pay to present your product. Here, I’m invited, time is made for me, hotel is offered. I feel like I’m working with the community for a common good.”
He also draws energy from it. “If I had to do this alone, not knowing if there’s real interest, praying people will buy when it’s done, it would be very hard. Here, I see huge interest. It fuels the fire.”
Distribution: Direct in the US, Distributors Elsewhere
The commercial model is already clear and pragmatic, region by region.
In the US, about ten major centers concentrate most activity. KOVE will sell direct: one dedicated person is enough, no sales force needed. In Europe, it depends on the country. In France, a distributor is almost mandatory; in Germany, direct sales are possible. In Brazil, a local distributor is required, and the market is large in intervention volume. For the rest of the world, China and India included, the company will seek distributors.
What About an Acquisition?
Many founders dodge the question. Yannick Devaud answers directly.
“We have to plan as if we’re a company that will sell this for life. We can’t count on an acquisition. But our goal would be an acquisition, of course. Investors want that, and we want to benefit from a bigger company’s impact on distribution and financing. Before that, we have to bring our technology to market ourselves.”
He adds without hesitation: “My goal is to bring this to market and save lives. If that means an acquisition, that’s the solution. I have no problem selling my baby. I don’t even see it as my baby, actually.”
Key Takeaways
Three lessons from this conversation that go far beyond medtech.
First: timing is strategy. KOVE didn’t solve a new problem but one that twenty years of data made unavoidable, just as someone finally decided to tackle it.
Second: when the market is small, proximity replaces marketing. A founder who personally knows every high-volume center, puts prototypes in future clients’ hands, and builds relationships years before the first sale is doing ABM without naming it. It’s the most effective go-to-market for a market that fits in a file.
Third: clarity on funding. The “valley of death” between proof of concept and clinical data is a reality for all deeptech. Crossing it requires investors who believe in the mission, a lean team, and a clinical step designed to unlock the next round.
We will closely follow KOVE Medical’s First-in-Human study in 2027. And if you’re a medtech investor, the round is open.
KOVE Medical at a Glance
- Headquarters: Zurich, Switzerland
- Founded in 2020 by Yannick Devaud (CEO, PhD in bioengineering, EPFL) and Kurt Ruffieux (co-founder, chairman, founder of Degradable Solutions)
- Spin-off from the University of Zurich and Zurich University Hospital
- Product: implantable device to close the amniotic membrane after fetoscopy
- Latest round: 1.6 M CHF (≈ 1.7 M€) from a syndicate of business angels, closed August 2026
- Previous support: Venture Kick, Venture Leaders, Gebert Rüf, Innosuisse, Swiss National Fund, >>venture>>, Tech4Eva, University of Zurich
- Next step: First-in-Human study on 15 patients, early 2027
- Current round: 4.5 to 6 M CHF
- Website: kovemedical.com
Article published by Uclic, growth marketing and AI agency. Interview conducted by Alexis Christine-Amara on September 16, 2026.