Germitech has raised $30m in a financing round to hasten the reach of the company’s footprint in the US disinfection market.
The round was led by French private equity firm Eurazeo, a group that has €35.5bn in assets under management and €420m in funds specifically for the French healthcare sector. Germitech, also France-headquartered, closed the round with participation from existing investors.
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At the helm of Germitec’s offerings are its ultraviolet-C (UV-C) high-level disinfection products. UV-C disinfection works by using a specific wavelength of light to damage the genetic material in bacteria, viruses, and fungi. This renders microbes inactive, meaning they cannot multiply. UV-C devices are currently used in operating room disinfection, air treatment, and disinfecting reusable medical instruments.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 5% of all hospital admissions result in a healthcare-associated infection. These infections pose a serious risk not just to patients, but also staff and hospital visitors.
Germitec’s products, under the brands Yuvee and Chronos, are free standing medical devices with chambers that emit light in software-led cycles. Current applications for the devices include endocavitary and external ultrasound probes. Such probes are used across a range of medical applications in hospitals, including gynaecology and IVF, urology, and radiology.
Chronos received US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) de novo approval in September 2024, becoming the first automated UV radiation disinfection chamber device.
Germitec says the US market opportunity of 60,000 devices in the US. Funds from the recent funding will go towards scaling US operations, the company said. Accelerating commercial adoption and ramping up research and development efforts will also benefit from the financing round, the latter having the aim of expanding Germitec’s product portfolio.
Germitec’s CEO Vincent Gardès said: “This funding marks a significant milestone for Germitec as we expand our footprint in the U.S. and maintain our commitment to developing cutting-edge disinfection solutions that enhance patient safety and operational efficiency.”
The global sterilisation market was worth $3.7bn in 2024, growing at a slow pace of 0.27% CAGR to reach over $3.8bn by 2034. The UV devices market segment is growing at a faster pace compared to other sterilisation technologies. The market’s largest current contributor – chemical sterilisiers – is growing at 0.33% CAGR, whilst UV devices are growing at at 1.35%. Steris, which offers UV disinfection systems amongst other products, occupies 41% of the market share in North America.
UV-C technology was in hot water with the FDA in 2022 after the agency issued a safety communication warning consumers that certain UV wands may cause injury after a few seconds of use. The FDA said that some wands were found to emit unsafe levels of radiation.
