ONWARD Medical Raises €40.6M to Advance Its Spinal Cord Stimulation Implant
April 17, 2026 - 10:28 am
The Eindhoven neurotechnology company is using the proceeds to fund its Empower BP pivotal trial, which tests whether its implantable ARC-IM® system can treat blood pressure instability after spinal cord injury, while expanding commercial rollout of its already-cleared ARC-EX® external therapy system. Cash runway now extends to Q1 2028.
ONWARD Medical Raises €40.6 Million
ONWARD Medical has raised €40.6 million in gross proceeds through an accelerated bookbuild private placement with institutional investors, the Eindhoven-based neurotechnology company announced on April 16, 2026. The transaction was anchored by a €25 million investment from EQT Life Sciences, with additional participation from long-only and sector-specialist investors. A total of 13,520,254 new ordinary shares were issued at €3.00 per share.
The company’s shares trade on Euronext Brussels, Amsterdam, and Paris under the ticker ONWD, with US ADRs on OTCQX as ONWRY.
Allocation of Proceeds
ONWARD is allocating the proceeds across four uses:
- 40% toward development of the investigational ARC-IM® implantable system, including clinical studies and regulatory work.
- 30% toward expanding sales and commercial operations for the ARC-EX® system in the US, Europe, and select other markets.
- 20% toward quality and administrative functions.
- 10% toward working capital, general corporate purposes, and servicing existing debt.
Combined with existing cash, the raise extends the company’s runway into Q1 2028, assuming no drawdown on its debt facility.
Products at the Center of the Raise
The two products at the center of this raise represent successive stages of the company’s clinical program:
- ARC-EX® System: An external, non-invasive spinal cord stimulation therapy already commercially cleared in the United States and Europe. It delivers electrical stimulation to the spinal cord through surface electrodes, activating neural circuits below the injury to improve voluntary motor function.
- ARC-IM® System: An implantable device that delivers stimulation directly, expected to provide more precise and effective treatment across a range of indications including blood pressure instability, bladder function, and, when paired with a brain-computer interface and AI, thought-driven movement restoration.
Empower BP Pivotal Trial
The primary use of the development funding is the Empower BP pivotal trial, investigating ARC-IM®’s ability to treat orthostatic hypotension and autonomic dysreflexia, dangerous blood pressure conditions among the most debilitating secondary complications of spinal cord injury. The trial received FDA Investigational Device Exemption approval in August 2025. It is randomised, double-blinded, and sham-controlled, the gold standard for medical device pivotal trials, and is expected to involve approximately 20 leading neurorehabilitation and neurosurgical research centers across the US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, and the UK. The first participant was enrolled and implanted.