SamanTree Medical, a Liège-based startup in surgical imaging innovation, has secured €20 million in financing from the European Investment Bank (EIB) in order to support the development of an advanced confocal microscopy scanner for rapid imaging of the internal microstructure of tissue samples during surgical procedures.
The operation is backed by InvestEU, the EU’s flagship programme to mobilise over €372 billion in additional investment from 2021 to 2027.
“The support of the European Investment Bank represents an important milestone for SamanTree,” says Olivier Delporte, CEO of SamanTree Medical. “This financing allows us to accelerate development of the Histolog Scanner and expand our commercial presence across Europe and the United States. The rigorous due diligence process undertaken by the EIB reflects the importance of our innovative technology, our development plan and our long-term vision for advancing real-time, high-resolution imaging for excised tissue.”
In the broader European MedTech and HealthTech funding landscape of 2025, SamanTree Medical’s financing places it among the larger rounds supporting clinically focused imaging and diagnostic innovation.
Other investments in adjacent areas include PIUR IMAGING, a Vienna-based medical imaging company that raised €5.6 million to scale its tomographic 3D ultrasound technology across Europe and the United States, and Juisci, a Paris-based HealthTech startup that secured €5.5 million in Seed funding to develop an AI platform supporting healthcare professionals’ access to scientific knowledge.
At a broader ecosystem level, M2care in Lyon raised €26 million to expand its HealthTech venture studio model, which includes the creation of new medical and healthcare technology companies.
Together, these rounds represent approximately €37 million invested across imaging-related and adjacent HealthTech segments in 2025, excluding SamanTree Medical’s transaction.
Against this backdrop, SamanTree stands out for both its larger ticket size and its focus on intraoperative, real-time imaging hardware, highlighting continued institutional support for capital-intensive medical device innovation alongside the smaller, predominantly software-oriented funding rounds seen elsewhere in the sector.
“Our investment in SamanTree Medical reflects the EIB’s long-standing commitment to advancing medical innovation across Europe,” said EIB Director Alessandro Izzo. “By supporting med‑tech companies through venture debt, a tool that helps entrepreneurs accelerate growth and bring cutting-edge technologies to patients sooner, we make sure that key medical tech companies can grow and thrive in Europe.
“Supporting innovators like SamanTree Medical is central to our mission of driving positive impact for patients and healthcare systems.”
Founded in 2014, SamanTree Medical’s mission to improving oncologic surgery through innovative imaging solutions.
The advanced technique of the Histolog Scanner reportedly enables it to capture nearly 30,000 images simultaneously, rather than one at a time, producing high-resolution, histology-like images in approximately one minute without damaging the specimen.
This allows surgeons and pathologists to image tissue within minutes and determine whether abnormal cellular microstructures remain at the surgical site, while patients remain on the operating table.
Used in more than 6,000 patients to date, physicians using the Histolog Scanner have demonstrated compelling results across multiple tissue types. In breast-conserving surgery, the SHIELD study showed that when physicians used the Histolog images for assessment, reoperation rates were allegedly lowered from 30% to 10%, a 67% reduction.
Research has also shown that Histolog is similar when compared to intraoperative frozen-section analysis (the gold standard) for prostatectomies, while offering substantial time savings. Using Histolog for imaging and interpretation takes approximately 5-20 minutes, compared with 45-60 minutes for frozen section analysis.
Using the Histolog images, physicians have also demonstrated a sensitivity ranging from 73% – 91% and a specificity ranging from 91% to 100%, when compared to conventional pathology. Additionally, studies have shown that intraoperative assessment allows surgeons to opt for more nerve-sparing surgeries, significantly reducing erectile dysfunction, a common side effect of a radical prostatectomy.
Furthermore, the financing will support SamanTree Medical’s research, development and innovative activities, including continued development and advancement of its Histolog Scanner.
Read the orginal article: https://www.eu-startups.com/2026/01/eib-backs-belgian-medtech-samantree-medical-with-e20-million-to-support-real-time-surgical-imaging/
