About us
We are Salvia: an innovative startup active in the emerging field of bioelectronics. We derived the name Salvia from the Latin word salvere, which means to stay healthy. In addition, the Salvia-plant has been used to treat headaches, pain, and mental disorders over centuries.
Bioelectronics
The human body is controlled by patterns of electrical impulses transmitted through nerve fibers. In case of a chronic neurological disease, these electrical patterns are different. Bioelectronics are smart devices that use mild electrical impulses to influence nerve activity. Electrical stimulation is nothing new (cardiac pacemakers have been in use for decades), but scientists are just beginning to realize the possibilities of regulating nerve signals to actually treat disease. And this is where Salvia comes in.
Our mission
Our mission is to deliver bioelectronic solutions that restore health for people suffering from chronic migraine. Salvia is ambitious: we want to provide drug-free solutions that are effective and inherently side-effect free and make our novel solutions widely accessible.
Only great teams make lasting impacts
At Salvia we are keen in getting to know highly motivated and talented individuals to strengthen our R&D team. We are always open for technical talent with medical device development experience – contact us if you’re interested.
Will you be our new colleague?
Get in touch
Acquisition is not appreciated.
Production Technician
Leadership
Hubert Martens
Chief Executive Officer
Hubert is the driving force behind Salvia. He led the overall product development at Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation that led to the successful acquisition by Medtronic in 2014 for $200M.
Daniël Schobben
Chief Operating Officer
Daniel is an entrepreneur with a broad operational experience. Specialties include fund raising (€70M+) and IP management (200+ patents). He previously founded, and coached several startups during their founding phase.
Wim Pollet
Chief Medical Officer
Wim is a Medical Doctor with a vast clinical network. He managed the clinical relations for start-ups (Kyphon, Sapiens), large medical device corporates (St. Jude Medical, Medtronic) and pharmaceutical companies (Aventis, Servier).
Advisors
Michel Ferrari
Scientific Advisor
Prof. Ferrari MD, PhD, FANA, FRCP is professor in Neurology, Leiden University Medical Centre. He is President of the Dutch Headache Society, and former President of the International Headache Society (IHS).
Manjit Matharu
Scientific Advisor
Dr. Matharu BSc, MBChB, PhD is Neurologist and Associate Professor at University College London. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP) and Neuroimaging expert in Primary Headache Syndromes.
Stephen Silberstein
Scientific Advisor
Prof. Silberstein MD, is Professor of Neurology and Director of the Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University. He is former President of the American Headache Society (AHS) and the International Headache Society (IHS).
Board of Directors
Alan Levy
Chairman
Alan has been the founding CEO of multiple successful transformative companies in the healthcare sector. Today, Alan serves as a board member at several public and private companies, including Intuitive Surgical, Tasso Inc. and Bardy Diagnostics.
Diana Saraceni
Director
Diana is General Partner and co-founder at Panakès Partners, an investment company focused on Innovative Early Stage Medical companies. Diana holds an MSc in Engineering (LaSapienza) and an MBA (Luiss University).
Ivan Burkov
Director
Ivan joined Inkef in 2019. He is a Principal at Inkef, and holds an MBA from INSEAD, a PhD in Genetics. Ivan is also a board member at Draupnir and Ambagon and he serves as an observer on the boards of NMD Pharma, Precirix and Quralis.
Director
Manfred Ulmer-Weber
Manfred joined SHS in 2010, and holds an international MBA in business administration from Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen and Ecole de Management Strasbourg. As a partner of SHS, Manfred represents SHS in a number of MedTech and life science company boards.
Mercedes Tuin
Observer
As Sr investment Manager at BOM Brabant Ventures, Mercedes manages Life Sciences & MedTech investments with a focus on early stage companies with a strong growth potential.
Florian Ludwig
Observer
As Healthcare Investor at Thuja Capital, Florian has a comprehensive understanding of MedTech market drivers and success factors. Florian has access to a solid network of industry experts and leading physicians.
Pascal Levensohn
Observer
Pascal is the Senior Managing Director of Dolby Family Ventures. A Silicon Valley venture capitalist for 28 years, he is a former director of the US National Venture Capital Association. Pascal holds an AB in Government, cum laude, from Harvard University.
News
RESPONSE cluster headache study (5-’23)
2023, May 22 The first evaluation of Salvia’s bioelectronic foil for people with cluster headache has started (“RESPONSE”). Detailed information is available at ClinicalTrials.gov.
RELIEF migraine study (5-’23)
2023, May 15 The first evaluation of Salvia’s bioelectronic foil for people with chronic migraine has started (“RELIEF”). Detailed information is available at ClinicalTrials.gov.
Salvia-ZMT collaboration (7-'22)
2022, July 1 Salvia BioElectronics BV and ZMT Zurich MedTech AG team up to optimize therapy through a neuro-functionalized model that supports electrode design, placement, and treatment parameter selection. The €1.8M project receives support from the Eurostars programme of the European Commission.
Chairman of the Board (7-'21)
2021, July 1 Salvia BioElectronics appoints Dr Alan Levy as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
MedTech Strategist (11-'20)
2020, November 17 The MedTech Strategist: "Salvia identified severe, chronic migraine as an underserved medical need in which their neuromodulation expertise could make a difference".
Breakthrough Device Designation (11-'20)
2020, November 3 Salvia BioElectronics receives the FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its innovative neurostimulation solution.
Series-A financing round (9-’20)
2020, September 22 Salvia BioElectronics raises EUR 26M (USD 31M) to develop innovative neurostimulation therapy for chronic migraine, in its series A financing round in which both new and existing investors joined.
Scientific advisor (1-'20)
2020, January 7 Salvia announced that Prof. Stephen Silberstein joins as scientific advisor for Salvia BioElectronics.
Clinical advisors (6-'19)
2019, June 25 Today, Salvia announced that Prof. Michel Ferrari and Dr. Manjit Matharu join as independent clinical advisors for Salvia BioElectronics.
Start-up-to-watch (3-'19)
2019, March 13 The MedTech Strategist listed Salvia as ‘startup-to-watch’ in an edition that features a 2-page interview with Salvia’s CEO Hubert Martens who explains the indication that Salvia addresses and the company’s ambition to provide an effective drug-free solution for chronic migraine that is as easy as taking meds.
Our location
High Tech Campus Eindhoven
Salvia is located at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. With more than 180 companies and >12,000 people working there, the area is known as the smartest square kilometer in Europe. A map of the High Tech Campus is available here. The office of Salvia is in building 41, located right across parking P4 West.
Navigation
Use the address
High Tech Campus 1
in your route planner
and follow the signs P4
Download map
High Tech Campus