InhalPlus raises €500,000 pre-seed to get asthma drugs into premature infants' lungs
What's the deal? Hannover-based medical-device startup InhalPlus has raised €500,000 in a pre-seed round from NBank CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, the investment arm of Lower Saxony's state-owned development bank, NBank. The deal was notarised in Hannover on October 16, 2026, and is the company's first external investment.
What does it do? InhalPlus has built a Bypass System to deliver inhaled medication to premature infants on breathing support. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, around 37,000 infants a year receive CPAP respiratory support, and many develop lung problems that inhaled drugs are meant to treat.
The problem: most of the drug is lost in the breathing circuit before it reaches the lungs. The system diverts a small flow from the circuit, enriches it with medication and delivers it at the infant's nose without interrupting breathing support.
Why now? InhalPlus spun out of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in August 2026, using Fraunhofer patents under an exclusive licence. The equity gives it runway after that spin-off, alongside non-dilutive support reported at €1.5 million from EXISTDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and €1.3 million for clinical work.
What's the money for? InhalPlus will develop its clinical prototype into a series-ready product, prepare regulatory documentation for medical-device certification, and expand its team. The capital also serves as the company's own contribution to public funding programmes.
What's the endgame? A proof-of-concept study in premature infants is planned for early 2027, the first time the system will be used in patients. InhalPlus aims to bring the system to market from 2029, initially at selected hospitals in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and sees longer-term potential in respiratory therapy for adults.
What could go wrong? Reported delivery gains — up to eight times the dose of standard systems — come from laboratory tests on a preterm breathing simulator, not patients. Clinical evidence and certification, not the funding, will decide whether the product succeeds.
What they said: "This is where a clear medical need meets a technology that has been developed in Lower Saxony over many years," said Susanne Hauck, investment manager at NBank Capital. Co-founder and managing director Felix Carl Wiegandt said, "medical technology takes staying power."
The signal: The round is a modest, locally backed milestone for a research-derived medical device, with a next financing round planned for 2027. For now, the test is not the headline figure but whether the technology holds up in the clinic and clears the path to certification.
Read more: life-sciences-europe.com
Image credit: MDGovpics
