CorWave and the EIC Accelerator: A Heart Pump That Keeps a Pulse

CorWave, founded in 2012 by the start-up studio MD Start and based in Clichy near Paris, is developing a left ventricular assist device, an implanted pump for people with advanced heart failure, that moves blood with an undulating membrane. In the October 2022 round of the EIC Accelerator it was selected for equity-only support for CALYPSO II, "the next-generation heart pump to change patients' lives and create a new standard of care", according to the EIC's award list. Equity-only awards have no grant agreement and no CORDIS record.

This was not CorWave's first EIC support: it announced a €2.5 million EIC Accelerator grant for its Calypso project in July 2020, and the EIC Fund joined its €35 million Series C in January 2021 in what CorWave described as "the first direct equity investment by the European Commission" through the fund. The round reached €61 million in a second closing in June 2023, led by Bpifrance's SPI fund. On 28 May 2025 the pump was implanted in its first patient at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney, and the study met its primary endpoint with "no device-related serious adverse events at 30 days", CorWave reported in September 2025.

Where CorWave Stands Now

In May 2026 CorWave's quality system was certified to ISO 13485 for the design, manufacture, distribution and servicing of its pumps, which it called "a foundational regulatory milestone on the path to commercialization", according to its release. In March 2026 it appointed a new chief technology officer and a vice president for clinical and scientific affairs. It has not announced a pivotal trial or regulatory approval.

The Technology: A Membrane That Swims

Today's durable heart pumps are rotary and deliver a continuous, fixed flow. CorWave's pump, inspired by the swimming motion of aquatic animals, uses an undulating membrane and works in step with the heartbeat, preserving pulsatility and adjusting flow to the patient's activity, the company says. In the first patient, pulsatility was preserved with the aortic valve opening on every beat, and no clot was found in the pump when it was removed at transplant, according to the first-implant release and later results.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The 2020 grant was for Calypso, which shares its title with the later award and was selected for blended finance at the January 2020 cut-off of the EIC Accelerator pilot under Horizon 2020, according to the European Commission's winner list. The project ran from October 2020 to September 2023 with an EU contribution of €2,495,675 towards a total cost of €3,565,250, and promised to turn a preclinical prototype into "an industrial CE-marked medical device", according to CORDIS. Its final report describes in vitro and in vivo testing, a synchronous pulsatility algorithm tested in chronic animal studies, 5 provisional and 10 standard patent applications, and a CE Mark trial protocol validated by external clinicians, but no implant: the first patient followed in May 2025, and no CE mark has been announced. The EIC Fund invested €15 million in the January 2021 Series C, according to Sofinnova Partners.

The 2022 award was for CALYPSO II, a pump to "create a new standard of care". As an equity-only award it has no project on CORDIS, no work plan and no report. CorWave's releases since 2022 do not mention the award or name the EIC Fund among new investors in the 2023 second closing, so whether and when that equity was invested is not public.

1. First-in-human implantDeliveredMay 2025, Sydney.
2. Early safetyDelivered30-day endpoint met.
3. New standard of careToo earlyOne patient reported.
4. 2022 equity investmentUnverifiedNot disclosed.

The Money

By June 2023 CorWave said it had secured €80 million in equity and employed more than 70 people. The second Series C closing included €15 million from Bpifrance's SPI fund and €11 million from European investors including Exor Ventures and the Vlerick Group. CorWave does not publish revenue and describes itself as a clinical-stage company.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

CorWave says its first implant came 27 years after the first durable rotary pump, and it aims to reduce complications that rotary pumps cause. The EIC gave it a grant, its fund invested in 2021 and it selected CorWave again in 2022 for equity only. A European heart pump that changes the standard of care would be a major medtech success, but only one patient's results are public.

The Verdict

CorWave and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.