ELOQUANT - POUR VOIR PLUS ET MIEUX 3

The promise of ELOQUANT NANOIMAGING : to offer a series of super-resolution microscopes that are both easier to use and less expensive than those currently available on the market.

ADVANCING RESEARCH

To understand living organisms and treat pathologies, researchers always need to see more and better. The recent increase in the resolution of optical microscopy has opened up prospects for understanding and diagnosing a large number of pathologies (cancer, degenerative diseases, etc.).

As they become essential for the advancement of research, super-resolution microscopes are complex and very expensive technologies. Many laboratories cannot afford them, or even are unable to implement them because they require highly qualified personnel (optical engineers, PhDs in physics or biology), rare and expensive.

In 2016, CEA researchers developed, after four years of research and €1.5 million in national and European funding, a new, much simpler approach to increasing the resolution of microscopes. Linseg Tech SAS obtained from the CEA, at the end of 2019, the exclusive license to use this technology and created the ELOQUANT brand in order to market it. ELOQUANT has thus developed a super-resolution fluorescence microscope that is just as efficient as the competition, but easier to use and at a much more affordable price for laboratories.

COMPARISON OF IMAGES OBTAINED BY ELOQUANT VS OUR COMPETITORS (CEA Saclay 2021)

3-D visualization of the membrane network in a chloroplast                With the best plant super-resolution today     with the methodology developed by ELOQUANT

The complete reconstitution of this membrane makes it possible to better understand the exploitation of solar energy by plants and its regulations, opening the way to optimize photosynthesis to increase the production of biomass by these organisms.

3D RECONSTRUCTION OF Chlamydomonas R. chloroplast (CEA de Saclay 2020) 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE METHOD

Researchers from the team led by Professor Bruno Robert at CEA Saclay have received significant funding to develop a super-resolution Raman microscopy methodology. During their experiments, they noticed that it was possible to extract information by moving the samples a few nanometers. Based on this observation, they developed a new method to increase the resolution – and therefore the precision – of fluorescence microscopes. Thus, was born the ELOQUANT technology patented in 2016 by the CEA and whose industrialization Linseg Tech has finalized to obtain the marketable microscope below.

SCIENTIFICS AWARDS

Since its launch, the CEA research project has received several scientific recognitions. In particular, it received “Proof of concept” funding from the European Research Council (ERC) in 2012. Linseg Tech, created in 2019 to promote innovation, won the French national competition for scientific excellence i -Lab, was the winner of the European EIT Headstart Program competition and obtained the “Seal of excellence” from the European Commission. These various competitions and labels testify to the scientific and commercial importance of the discovery, also rewarded by the “Deep Tech” label from BPI France, which validates the innovative side of the technology. Linseg Tech is also supported by the Agoranov incubator, the Medicen Paris Region competitiveness cluster and the Matériaupôle business cluster.

ELOQUANT TODAY  

The super-resolution microscopy market includes many companies that offer microscopes with distinct performance and applications as per requirement. Among these players, ELOQUANT competes with the biggest: Nikon, Zeiss, Olympus, ONI, Bruker, Leica, GE Healthcare and BioAxial.

In 2020, the commercial research company Novoptim carried out a market study with the aim of comparing ELOQUANT to competing solutions and highlighting areas of differentiation. This study included 14 interviews with opinion leaders (KOL) in the field of research or large pharmaceutical groups. At similar resolution, current techniques have difficulty imaging thick samples. The very high resolution techniques, STED and PALM/STORM, proposed in particular by Nikon, Zeiss, ONI, Bruker, Abbelight and Leica present significant experimental constraints during sample preparation.

Compared to all these approaches, the ELOQUANT technology stands out by being able to produce images on any type of biological sample while maintaining its optimal specificities. In terms of price positioning, competing proposals are between 250,000 and 1 million euros where ELOQUANT can offer a price of between 225,000 and 400,000 euros depending on the needs of professionals, for a device requiring less maintenance and above all no specific skills to make it work.

The study of the competition highlights the very strong pressure exerted by ELOQUANT on its competitors at the price level by proposing a solution which guarantees both performance while reducing the constraints of implementing the tool and a minimum of necessary expertise in terms of use. ELOQUANT makes it possible to reconstruct in three dimensions the structure of cells, healthy or pathological, with unequaled precision. Among the 14 professionals interviewed by Novoptim, 10 were very interested in the technology.

Linseg Tech SAS is housed in the facilities of the CEA in Saclay, which is at its origin. We thus benefit from privileged access to the human, material and technical resources available in their laboratories.

Application to a Cyclotella diatom

3D visualization through the shell made at the CEA in Saclay in 2020

ELOQUANT TOMORROW

ELOQUANT R&D is focused on developing a series of features for the current microscope, with the goal of increasing the speed, as well as the axial and lateral resolution of the tool. These improvements, some of which are based on breakthrough innovations that can be patented, will eventually enable ELOQUANT microscopes to compete with the most advanced technologies in super-resolution microscopy, without generating significant additional costs.

Another strong point for the future, ELOQUANT is the only technology allowing to increase the resolution of other types of microscopes, in particular for Raman imaging or transmission imaging. Thanks to successful proofs of concept, the R&D team is already building super-resolution prototypes for this type of device, which it will be the only one to market by 2023.

A detailed technological innovation program has been defined for the next 5 years which includes research work to develop the ELOQUANT approach in Raman microscopy and in transmission microscopy. Today, no approach allows to gain in resolution on these two types of microscopy. These breakthrough innovations will be patentable and will allow Linseg Tech to enrich its patent portfolio. Thanks to its developments, ELOQUANT will be the only brand to offer this equipment to laboratories and companies.

FUNDRAISING 

Since its creation, Linseg Tech has obtained more than €400,000 in competitions for scientific excellence or dedicated to innovation.

A first fundraising of €300,000 on the Myoptions.co participatory platform enabled Linseg Tech to complete the industrialization process of its microscopes, to validate our innovative technology and our business model with several French and European laboratories. , as well as start marketing the devices. To date, around ten laboratories have confirmed their interest in the ELOQUANT super-resolution microscope, and their desire to use this technology to produce images in the spring of 2022.

In the same logic, we are launching a raise in royalties of €500,000 to accelerate the technical and economic development of ELOQUANT on a global market in search of innovation.

In order to interest “classic” investors in this modern investment technique and not to resort to equity, we have configured the contract to transform investments into “win-win” projects.

In this spirit, we have decided to offer royalties not over 5 years, but over 6 years, to allow investors to benefit from the development of our sales.

TARGET RETURN

The objective is to triple (before taxes) the amount invested. In order to offer a maximum guarantee to our investors, a clause provides that if the amount invested is not reimbursed within 6 years, the duration of the contract is extended until the reimbursement of three times the amount invested is hit. So, if we raise €500,000, we will repay at least €1,500,000 to investors.

MAXIMUM YIELD

It is unlimited. In the case where the evolution of the turnover is very much higher than the hypothesis adopted at the start, the contract does not end once the payment of royalties equals 3 times the amount invested. Always with a view to offering our investors a “win-win” opportunity, it is essential for us to share the financial successes of our project. In our forecast, our turnover projections are quite conservative for a market which should grow worldwide by 9% per year until 2027. We have indicated revenues of €26 million in 2027, i.e. after 8 years of ‘existence. By way of comparison, the startup ONI, a spin-out from Oxford University founded in 2016, declared revenues of more than US$10 million in 2020 after only 4 years of existence and has just raised US$75 million in capital in January 2022.

RETURN ON INVESTMENT

Investors earn a share of our turnover every quarter: 4% maximum for €500,000 invested. This part will be proportional to the investments. In other words, if we achieve our forecast, the return for investors will be +479% over 6 years. Linseg Tech is able to offer a very attractive return forecast to investors because we have a very high gross margin (+50%).

Indeed, the cost of a fluorescence microscope, including components and labor, is €140,000 while its selling price is €300,000. We can therefore easily absorb the €12,000 in royalties (4% of €300,000) offered to investors on WE DO GOOD for each microscope sold.

NEEDS DETAILS

In order to implement our development strategy, we need cash to invest in the upgrading of the skills of our scientists, to increase the notoriety of our technology and to recruit an experienced sales team.

Because the ELOQUANT technology is completely new in the field of super-resolution microscopy, we will have to make it known to the world of research and to the major pharmaceutical industries. This notoriety will be obtained by the participation of our scientists in specialized conferences: Gordon conferences, Plant biology conference, Applied physics conference, American society of cellular biology meeting…It also involves the publication of articles in renowned scientific journals. An article has already appeared in the journal Frontiers in microbiology and a dozen others are being prepared with the laboratories that have tested the solution.

LINSEG TECH

Linseg Tech is a French company with the legal form SAS (Simplified Joint Stock Company) and was created in 2019 with a share capital of €10,000 held by its founders and CEA Investissement. It is represented by Denis Gascon who holds 59% of the company’s shares.

Economic and social impacts: ELOQUANT accelerates the development of the economy and employment in Essonne, France, encourages innovation and democratizes cutting-edge research in laboratories.

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND EMPLOYMENT

The marketing of ELOQUANT will contribute to economic development in Essonne by creating 30 jobs within 6 years (2027). These jobs will for the most part be highly qualified, associated with high salaries intended for researchers, research engineers, sales engineers or senior technicians… They are likely to create wealth for the regional economy. Like any high-tech instrument, ELOQUANT will also have many economic benefits for many subcontractors.

ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE

By allowing researchers to see more and better, ELOQUANT technology will allow, by 2027, more than a hundred researchers to publish articles in scientific journals in all sectors, contributing as much to the spread of innovations in basic research and applied research.

ENCOURAGEMENT OF INNOVATION

The development of ELOQUANT is based on technological innovations making it possible to offer researchers, medical and biotechnology teams a range of high-performance super-resolution microscopes that are accessible in terms of cost and use. These microscopes will offer small laboratories the possibility of acquiring a state-of-the-art instrument. The R&D plan planned over 5 years aims to provide ELOQUANT with new functionalities, but also to address areas other than fluorescence microscopy. The underlying innovations, developed in partnership with the CEA and major European universities, will generate new patents, thereby increasing the competitive positioning of the solution.

DEMOCRATIZATION OF RESEARCH

Thanks to a lower operating and acquisition cost than competing products, ELOQUANT will allow a greater number of academic and private laboratories to access super-resolution microscopy. Despite their limited financial resources and the lack of qualified personnel, laboratories located in emerging countries will be able to benefit from all the advantages of super-resolution microscopy, and produce images of equal quality to those in developed countries. This technological contribution will result in new scientific discoveries in biology, in particular in health (neurosciences, cancer, cellular pathologies, etc.), and medical advances that will benefit society as a whole. We estimate that in 2027, 15% of microscopes sold will be in emerging countries allowing them to develop their scientific research.

The ELOQUANT technology, which is based on a patent jointly filed by the CEA, the CNRS and the Free University of Amsterdam, makes it possible to obtain super-resolution images in a totally different way from the techniques used by its competitors. Linseg Tech’s ELOQUANT is indeed the first super-resolution microscopy technology that uses signal acquisition geometry to increase the resolution of the microscope. This innovative technology revolutionizes super-resolution microscopy, allowing both a significant gain in resolution, ease of use and an affordable acquisition cost. ELOQUANT’s strategy today aims to rapidly deploy our sales team in order to capture a share of this fast-growing market.

MARKET, CUSTOMERS AND POSITIONING

The super-resolution microscopy sector will grow by 8.9% during the period 2022 to 2027 to reach 1.8 billion euros in 2027. This growth is explained by the fact that to understand living and pathologies, researchers always need to see more and better.

The main customers likely to use super-resolution microscopes are research laboratories, the medical sector as well as pharmaceutical companies. There are thus several tens of thousands of laboratories in the world that can use super-resolution microscopy.

Most of the techniques currently on the market present significant experimental constraints in sample preparation in order to be able to image them. At similar resolution, current techniques most often lose their precision as soon as the samples have a certain thickness.

Compared to all of these approaches, the ELOQUANT technology stands out by being able to produce images on any type of biological sample while remaining close to its optimal specificities.

ELOQUANT will be sold at prices varying between €225,000 and €400,000 per device. Considering its performance and ease of use, ELOQUANT will be offered at a very competitive price since competing products are offered at higher prices, to which must be added the costs entailed by the need for the presence of highly qualified personnel.

Over the past two years, the company has proceeded with the industrialization of its microscopes, making it possible to move from functional laboratory prototypes to a series of fully integrated finished products. These new microscopes have been designed from an assembly of components already proven and available on the market such as: lasers, ultra-high-speed ultra-sensitive CCD camera, high-performance optical mirrors, motorized xy tables, etc. whose assembly makes it possible to obtain images with an accuracy of less than 100 nm. The only parts custom-made for Linseg Tech are the optical tower supporting the microscope objectives and the frame to isolate the microscope from its environment, these parts being manufactured by an independent machine shop. Thus, the company can produce on request, with delivery times of three months, devices whose selling price will vary between €225,000 and €400,000, depending on the complexity of the chosen configuration, while the complete cost ( parts and labor) for these devices is between €85,000 and €140,000 respectively.

The main advantages of ELOQUANT are therefore:

• Unique design allowing great ease of use since the microscope can be operated by technicians
• No sample preparation by biologists required
• Possibility of obtaining super-resolution images of naturally fluorescent samples (ELOQUANT is currently the only technology allowing super-resolution in the field of photosynthesis)
• Affordable acquisition cost for most labs

The study of the competition highlights the very strong pressure exerted by ELOQUANT on its competitors at the price level by proposing a solution which guarantees performance while reducing the constraints of use and the expertise necessary for the implementation of the solution. In particular, ELOQUANT allows the three-dimensional reconstruction of the structure of cells, normal or pathological, with unparalleled precision today.

MARKETING STRATEGY

There are currently several tens of thousands of laboratories around the world that can benefit from super-resolution microscopy. The two markets targeted primarily by Linseg Tech are Europe and North America.

Members of the team around ELOQUANT have developed over the last twenty years an extensive network of scientific collaborations both in Europe and in North America and Asia and several of these laboratories have already shown an interest in ELOQUANT microscopes. . The marketing strategy consists of quickly maximizing the presence of the ELOQUANT brand by developing its notoriety, increasing the power of its sales team and signing marketing agreements with distributors.

In addition, Linseg Tech, due to its collaboration with Medicen Paris Region and the CEA, has access to a large network of contacts in the medical sector, fundamental research and the pharmaceutical industry on the European continent. The collaboration with these two organizations will allow the rapid development of opportunities in Europe.

Linseg Tech’s sales team will be increased as sales progress. Thus, we will hire a salesperson in 2022, then two in 2023 in order to obtain a sales team of seven people by 2025, Our sales team will cover the European market to directly prospect research laboratories, major imaging platforms and pharmaceutical groups. The North American market will be handled by its existing sales representative. For other markets, Linseg Tech will sign distribution agreements with partners working in the field of laboratory equipment for research laboratories and pharmaceutical companies.

Linseg Tech has participated over the past two years in several editions of the Biotechgate event specializing in life sciences, which has enabled it to establish numerous contacts for its commercial development both in Europe and in North America than in Asia.

In order to support the commercial development of Linseg Tech and continue to create new scientific applications for ELOQUANT, we will carry out a regular recruitment of one to two scientists per year from 2022 to 2027. These recruitments will consist of hiring scientists and engineers with additional training for the team currently in place which will improve the performance of ELOQUANT in collaboration with the CEA, the Free University of Amsterdam and the University of Vilnius. This continuous improvement in performance is essential in order to maintain the notoriety of the ELOQUANT brand. By 2027, the scientific and technical team will number 14 people.

COMMUNICATION STRATEGY

Linseg Tech will communicate about ELOQUANT at scientific conferences, through the publication of articles in scientific journals. The team around Linseg Tech is already regularly asked to present ELOQUANT technology at seminars, microscopy congresses or innovative materials for laboratories and industry. For example, in 2019 she was invited to give lectures at several Gordon Conferences, which are reference meetings in the United States, or at the 13th international conference ‘Optical Probes of Organic and Hybrid Optoelectronic Materials and Applications’ in Vilnius, Lithuania. . These conferences have been suspended due to the pandemic and will gradually resume in 2022 following the lifting of health restrictions.

In addition, the ELOQUANT website has been completely redone and is online at http://eloquant-nanoimaging.com/, which will allow better communication with scientists. In addition, a mandate was granted to Libra Science to develop a digital marketing strategy including SEO.

With its super-resolution microscope, ELOQUANT offers an innovative solution that is both efficient and accessible. Led by Denis Gascon and an experienced team, the technology also benefits from the advice of a prestigious scientific orientation committee.

ELOQUANT TEAM

Three of the members of ELOQUANT (Bruno Robert, Andrew Gall and Cristian Ilioaia) are at the origin of the development of the patent and have been working together for fifteen years. They kind of consider ELOQUANT as their ‘baby’. As for Denis Gascon, he has known Bruno Robert for about ten years and has contributed to the development of the project since 2015. Finally, Igor Chaussavoine joined the team in 2021.

The whole team is motivated to make the ELOQUANT brand known and quickly establish it as an innovative alternative in the super-resolution microscopy market. The members of the team have complementary profiles of biologists, biophysicists, physicists, spectroscopists and administrators/salespeople which ensure a good balance for the development of the company.

• Denis Gascon, holder of an MBA from HEC Montréal, 35 years of experience in international management, business development and administrative management. From 1984 to 2002, he held several positions as commercial director and director of international partnerships for high-tech companies before creating Devmar International Inc in 2002. Devmar International offered, from 2002 to 2019, services international marketing to innovative companies.

• Bruno Robert, Doctor of Physics from the Pierre and Marie Curie University, Professor at the Free University of Amsterdam, Director of Research at the CEA. Between 1984 and today, he has published more than two hundred scientific articles and was co-recipient of “Advanced Grant” and “Proof of Concept” funding from the ERC in 2011. His team specializes in the development of methods innovations for the life sciences. He oversees the R&D strategy for ELOQUANT.

• Andrew Gall, PhD from the University of Glasgow, 30 years of experience in biology and development of innovative techniques for life sciences. He designed and implemented the various prototypes of the microscope marketed by ELOQUANT and supervises the development of its commercial microscopes for ELOQUANT.

• Cristian Ilioaia, PhD from the University of Sheffield, 20 years of experience in microscopy and spectroscopy applied to biology. He designs all the measurements aimed at testing the performance of ELOQUANT microscopes, as well as their applicability in the various fields of cell biology.

• Igor Chaussavoine, PhD in physics from the Institut polytechnique de Paris, 5 years of experience in optics and microfluidics for life sciences. Last arrived at ELOQUANT, he is in charge of the development of applications in biology of ELOQUANT microscopes and is responsible for customer relations with research laboratories and researchers.

STRATEGIC ORIENTATION COMMITTEE

• Pr. Dr. Rienk van Grondelle, Professor at the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (Akademie Hoogleraar).
• Pr. Dr Leonas Valkunas, Chairman of the Mathematics, Physics and Chemical Sciences Division of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences.
• Serge Kinkingnéhun, President of ES2KA, Engineer and specialist start-up consultant in the field of MedTech. Founder of the EyeBrain company in 2008.

SCIENTIFIC PARTNERS

• The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), first French research center and co-owner of the patent for super-resolution microscopy, is home to ELOQUANT’s R&D department. In addition, a scientific collaboration agreement was signed between the CEA and Linseg Tech in order to benefit from the expertise of the teams from this organization involved in the initial development of the microscope.

• The Free University of Amsterdam, co-owner of the patent, will participate in the development of innovative image analysis algorithms for Linseg Tech with the aim of further improving the resolution of its microscopes.

• Vilnius University provides the theoretical framework for the developments offered by Linseg Tech, thus ensuring the formal proof of the specifications of the materials offered by Linseg Tech.

THEY SUPPORT US

ADVISORS

     Legal advisers and patent protection

     Chartered accountant group

             Scientific communication and digital strategy

  National and European funding advice

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