Key Investor Signals
Signed LOIs with industry companies
Aortex signed letters of intent with companies in the sector before bringing its product to market.
€130,000 in convertible-loan commitments
Aortex secured €130,000 in convertible-loan commitments from investors at Hamburg’s third Zebra Investment Night on 31 August 2026.
Patent application filed, with novelty confirmed
Aortex filed a patent application covering its stent graft manufacturing technology in March 2025. The German Patent and Trade Mark Office confirmed its novelty.
Other Positive Signals
- Completed a working prototype of its patient-specific, low-profile stent graft.
- Selected for Hamburg's InnoRampUp public innovation funding programme.
- Won six startup and innovation competitions, including the Hamburg Innovation Award 2026 and imec.istart’s Next Unicorn Award 2026.
- Selected for the imec.istart acceleration portfolio.
- Joined the later-stage track of GATEWAY49 Batch VIII.
Team
Henry Stehle
CEO and co-founder
- Served as CFO of BioInterio, which developed fibre-based composite materials at RWTH Aachen's textile technology institute.
- Spent three years in strategy consulting at Accenture before founding Aortex.
- Holds a master's in management and engineering in production systems from RWTH Aachen University.
- Received the NRW Gründerstipendium, North Rhine-Westphalia's scholarship for company founders.
Maximilian Dunker
CTO and co-founder
- Managed multimillion-euro global projects at Vibracoustic from prototype and validation through serial production.
- Designed a 3D-printed cylinder head that was 30% lighter and reduced cooling pressure loss by 75%.
- Built an automated BMW design tool that generated welding-gun geometry after maintenance.
- Holds a master's in mechanical engineering from RWTH Aachen University.
Product
Aortex is developing patient-specific stent grafts for endovascular aortic repair. Its initial target is patients whose access vessels are too small or whose anatomy is too complex for conventional devices, leaving open surgery as their principal alternative.
Up to 20% smaller delivery catheters
Aortex makes the membrane half as thick as current models, enabling delivery catheters up to 20% smaller and extending treatment to patients with narrower arteries.
Patient-specific implants made in days
Each implant is shaped from the patient's 3D CT data and produced through an automated, single-step process. This reduces the production time for a custom stent graft from months to days—an important difference when an aneurysm is at risk of rupture.
Designed for longer durability
The thinner membrane is designed to last longer than conventional alternatives and reduce the need for repeat procedures as implants age.
Market Overview
Aortic aneurysms can rupture without warning and cause fatal internal bleeding. Around 15,000 people die from ruptured aortic aneurysms each year in the United States. Endovascular repair is already an established treatment, with hospitals routinely purchasing stent graft systems from companies including Medtronic, W. L. Gore and Cook Medical.
The remaining gap is anatomical eligibility. Smaller access vessels and more complex aortic anatomy can prevent patients, particularly women, from receiving conventional endovascular repair. Meanwhile, the global aortic aneurysm market is forecast to grow from $5.0 billion in 2025 to $12.9 billion in 2033, creating a validated market for lower-profile and patient-specific devices.
Around 15,000 people die from ruptured aortic aneurysms each year in the United States.
A pooled analysis found only 34% of women anatomically suitable for conventional endovascular repair, compared with 54% of men.
Aortic stent grafts accounted for 80.1% of aortic aneurysm product revenue in 2025.
The global aortic aneurysm market is projected to grow from $5.0 billion in 2025 to $12.9 billion in 2033.
Comparable Outcomes
JOTEC
JOTEC developed endovascular and surgical grafts for thoracic and abdominal aortic disease, manufactured in Germany and sold through its own teams across Europe and Latin America. JOTEC established the value of a German-engineered stent graft business to a strategic acquirer. CryoLife acquired JOTEC for $225M in December 2017.
Embody
Embody developed collagen-based implants for tendon, rotator cuff and other difficult soft-tissue injuries. Its value sat in the implantable material itself rather than in the surgical instruments around it. Zimmer Biomet acquired Embody for up to $275M in February 2023.
Kerecis
Kerecis developed fish-skin grafts for chronic, diabetic and surgical wounds. Coloplast acquired the company in August 2023 for up to $1.3B, demonstrating strategic buyer interest in advanced wound-care businesses.
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Sources
This profile was built from public company materials, ecosystem sources, market references, and professional profiles.