When Local Funding Is Not the Right Fit: How Venture Leaders Took the University Spinout ONWARD Medical Global

When Vincent Delattre joined Venture Leaders in 2014, ONWARD Medical was still an early EPFL spinout with a bold mission: developing neurostimulation therapies to restore neurological function for people with spinal cord injury. In conversation with Jordi Montserrat, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Venturelab, Vincent reflected on spinning out of university research, and on how building in a highly regulated industry and with a lack of local funding did not stop them from going global and become a publicly listed company. As in his case, it simply means the right investors are elsewhere.

ONWARD Medical did not start with a conventional business idea. It started with a scientific problem. Vincent Delattre and his co-founders were researchers working on one of the most ambitious challenges in medicine: restoring neurological function after spinal cord injury. Their early research showed promise in animals, but moving from the lab to humans required tools and devices that did not yet exist. The back then researchers at EPFL did what every entrepreneur would do: start solving the problem themselves. Fast forward almost one decade the company is publicly listed and has closed another funding round for an indicative amount of EUR 40 million to support its next stage of growth. What happened in between?  

From EPFL Research to Medical Technology 

ONWARD Medical set out to develop neurostimulation therapies that could help restore movement and other neurological functions for people living with spinal cord injury. The company emerged from the gap between what was scientifically possible and what the market was able to provide. 

Building a company out of university research requires a major shift in the mindset and logic behind. In the lab, the goal is to push knowledge forward. In a company, the goal is to turn that knowledge into a product that can survive regulation, clinical validation, investor scrutiny, market expectations, and ultimately generate revenue. 

For ONWARD Medical, that transition was particularly demanding. Because the company was not building a product that could be tested quickly with early adopters, quick testing and feedback was almost impossible. Building medical technology for patients with spinal cord injury meant operating in a field where safety, evidence, clinical workflows, regulatory approval, and physician trust all matter.


Patient training with a neurostimulation-assisted mobility system

The Funding Fit Was Not Obvious 

One of the strongest points in Vincent’s interview is his reflection on fundraising. “In our case, we were unfortunately not matching any of the Swiss funds that were existing back then,” he says. “Therefore, we had to address large VC funds in Europe, specialized in medtech industry.” 

It is this sentence that challenges a common founder assumption. If local investors do not invest, many founders immediately think something must be wrong with the company. But that is not always the case. Sometimes, the issue is not product quality. It is funding fit. 

ONWARD Medical was building in a highly specialized, capital-intensive, regulated field. The company needed investors who understood medtech, clinical development, regulatory timelines, and the level of capital required to bring such a technology to market. And at the same time recognized the potential and future use of their solution. 

That was something that was not necessarily aligned with the mandate, risk profile, ticket size, or sector focus of the Swiss funds available at the time. 

The result was an incoherent investment situation: the company had strong science, a clear medical need, and major potential, but it did not naturally fit into the funding structures around it. To move forward, ONWARD Medical had to look for investors whose investment logic matched the company’s reality. And that meant going beyond Switzerland quickly. This proved to be an important step in ONWARD Medical's growth. After attracting specialized international medtech investors, the company successfully went on to complete an IPO in 2021. And it has continued to raise capital to support its development, including the fundraising of a capital increase for an indicative amount of EUR 40 million in April 2026.

“In our case, we were unfortunately not matching any of the Swiss funds that were existing back then. So we had to address large VC funds in Europe, specialized in medtech industry.”

Not Every “No” Means the Company Is Wrong 

A rejection from one investor, one country, or one funding ecosystem does not automatically mean the company is not investable. It may simply mean that the investor is not the right one. 

This is why founders need to understand not only how to pitch, but whom to pitch. Fundraising is not about convincing everyone. It is about finding investors whose fund strategy, sector knowledge, risk appetite, and time horizon match the company. 

ONWARD Medical’s journey shows that if the local funding landscape does not match your company, the answer is not necessarily to make the company smaller. The answer may be to find a better-matched capital environment.
 

Venture Leaders Created the First Global Testing Ground 

The Venture Leaders roadshow to Boston and New York in 2014 came at a critical moment for ONWARD Medical. The company was early, scientific, and highly complex. It needed to learn how to communicate its story to international investors in a way that was clear, credible, and compelling. 

During the program, Jordi Montserrat spoke to the entrepreneurs about the importance of creating a “wow effect” in a pitch: one clear, powerful sentence that makes investors immediately understand why the company matters. Vincent remembers training this message from pitch to pitch, investor to investor. Then, one day, in a tower in Boston’s Financial District, it worked. “I pitched my project, and the guy was just like, ‘wow,’” Vincent recalls. “And that was the first time it really happened, during the Venture Leaders.” 

For a university spinout in a highly technical field, this moment matters. It showed that the company’s complex science could be translated into a story that landed with an international audience. It showed that ONWARD Medical’s vision could travel beyond academic and Swiss circles. And it gave the team a stronger sense of how to position the company in front of global investors. 

ONWARD Medical implant for targeted spinal cord stimulation

Building in a Highly Regulated Industry Requires Discipline 

ONWARD Medical’s journey also shows the reality of building in a highly regulated industry. As scientists and innovators, Vincent and his team naturally wanted to go for the most ambitious version of the product. They could see the broader potential of the technology and wanted to push it as far as possible. 

But in medtech, ambition must be translated into a very focused path. For FDA approval and market access, the company had to define a specific intended use. It had to be careful with every claim, every word, and every public statement. Communication around the product had to be controlled and precise. 

That is one of the hardest tensions in regulated innovation: the long-term potential may be huge, but the first approval often depends on focus, discipline, and restraint. The lesson is not that regulation can be bypassed. The lesson is that medtech founders need to balance the big vision with the practical route to approval. The company has to dream big, but execute with precision. 

Important Lessons 

ONWARD Medical’s story offers several important lessons for founders building science-based companies. 

First, spinning out of university research is not just about creating a company around technology. Rather it is about turning research into a product that can survive clinical, regulatory, commercial, and investor realities. 

Second, funding fit matters. If a company does not match local investors, that does not automatically mean the company is weak. It may mean the investor landscape is not structured for that type of company. ONWARD Medical's progression from an EPFL spinout to a publicly listed company also illustrates how finding the right investors early can create access to larger sources of capital later, from specialized venture funds to public market investors.

Third, regulated industries require focus. The scientific vision can be broad, but the path to market often has to be narrow, disciplined, and carefully communicated. 

And finally, international exposure matters early. For ONWARD Medical, Venture Leaders created a space to test the story, sharpen the pitch, meet international investors, and understand how a Swiss university spinout could position itself on a global stage and present its own “wow” sentence to the right investors. 

The lesson is clear: if your company does not fit the local investment logic, do not confuse mismatch with failure. Understand your funding fit, sharpen your story, and find the market that matches the ambition. 

And you might be next! If you are currently sitting in a lab working on the next medical breakthrough you should get familiar with Venture Leaders, its upcoming events and activities and learn more about the success stories. This might be your chance to travel with the Swiss National Startup Team to the global innovation hubs and pitch your solution to the right investors.

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