Escala Medical and the EIC Accelerator: Repairing Prolapse

Escala Medical, an Israeli company in the Trendlines Group portfolio, makes Mendit, formerly Apyx, a device that anchors a suture to a ligament in the pelvis through the vagina, lifting prolapsed organs without incisions in a short procedure under local anaesthetic. Pelvic organ prolapse, where the bladder, uterus or rectum drops out of place, causes incontinence and pain. Escala was selected in the EIC Accelerator's March 2023 cut-off with blended finance and received an EU grant of €2.50 million for a €5.07 million project that ran from October 2023 to September 2025, according to CORDIS. The project was to finalise the device, run clinical trials and support scale-up and commercialisation.

The device was not new to the market: the US Food and Drug Administration cleared Apyx in April 2022 and again in July 2023, before the project started, and cleared the renamed Mendit in March 2026, according to the FDA 510(k) database. The final report says the project supported "development, validation, and clinical testing of the design", brought "rapid U.S. adoption" and put "CE marks on track for Q1 2026", according to the CORDIS reporting page. No CE mark has been announced.

Where Escala Stands Now

Escala sells Mendit in the United States through its own sales team, and in June 2025 closed a $4.5 million round that "included the EIC Fund" and private investors in the US and Israel, according to PR Newswire. The release says "hundreds of successful procedures" have been performed, and that the money would prepare entry into Europe, "pending CE approval", and Southeast Asia through a Singapore distributor. The final report says financial runway is secured until 2027. Escala's revenue is not disclosed.

The Technology: Suspension Without Surgery

Surgery for prolapse brings long recovery, pelvic pain and relapses, the project objective says, and is usually reserved for advanced cases. Mendit fixes the top of the vagina to the sacrospinous ligament with an anchor guided by the doctor's finger, an apical suspension that Trendlines describes as the most important component of prolapse repair. Escala says it can be done in the doctor's office. The only registered trial of the device, finished in 2022, enrolled 17 women at Rambam Medical Center in Israel and has posted no results on ClinicalTrials.gov.

What the EIC Award Promised, and What the Record Shows

The award promised to finish development, run clinical trials and scale up sales. The redesigned device won a new FDA clearance, US sales grew, a European patent was allowed and the EIC Fund invested. No new clinical trial is registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, no clinical results are published, and the CE mark that would open the European market is still pending six months after its target date.

1. Device optimisationDeliveredFDA clearance, Mar 2026.
2. US commercial scale-upDeliveredSales team, hundreds of cases.
3. Clinical trialsUnverifiedNone registered, no data.
4. CE markNot announcedTarget was Q1 2026.

The Money

The EU paid 49% of the project, a lower share than most EIC grants because the project budget was over €5 million. The EIC Fund's share of the $4.5 million round is not disclosed. The EIC therefore funded, with grant and equity, an Israeli company whose sales are in the United States, on the promise of European market entry.

What Cannot Be Checked

Why Europe Should Care

Prolapse is common and undertreated, and many European women wait for their condition to worsen before surgery is offered. A simple office procedure could change that. Escala has a product in use in the United States; for European patients, it depends on a CE mark that has not arrived.

The Verdict

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