Germany’s Evonik has taken a minority share in Finnish start-up company Synoste. Founded in 2012, Synoste is a spin-off from the Aalto University in Espoo with locations in Helsinki and Düsseldorf, Germany. It currently has nine employees.

Together with Orton, a Helsinki hospital that specializes in orthopaedics, Synoste has developed a high-tech implant for leg lengthening. Discrepancy in leg length, where the bone of one leg is shorter than the other, can lead to chronic back pain and osteoarthritis in the long term.

The implant can lengthen the shorter leg in a gentle and minimally invasive way over several months, providing patients with an easier, less painful and lower risk treatment.

Evonik’s Vestakeep PEEK high-performance polymer, already well established in implant, dental and medical technologies, will be used in the device. “By investing in Synoste we hope to open up a new, extremely innovative application for Vestakeep PEEK and enhance our business and expertise in the field of medical technology,” said Matthias Kottenhahn, head of Evonik’s high performance polymers business.

Bernhard Mohr, Evonik’s head of venture capital, added that medical technology was one of the company’s strategic growth areas and its competence in high performance polymers made Synoste an excellent fit.

Evonik’s investment was made as part of a series A round, together with High-Tech Gründerfonds, two Finnish venture capital funds Finnvera and Lifeline Ventures as well as Finnish business angels. The total financing amounted to single-digit million euros.

Harri Hallila, CEO and co-founder of Synoste, said the funds from this latest financing round would help Synoste to move forward to clinical testing. The company also intends to develop its Düsseldorf site into the European sales center because of its good location and infrastructure.

The implant is about to undergo the EU’s approval process to gain the CE mark and it is expected to launch on the market in 2017 under the name Nitinail.

Synoste’s implant technology also offers potential in treating deformities in arms, fingers and toes as well as spine and craniomaxillofacial surgery.