ADVENT ACCESS SELECTED TO JOIN SILICON VALLEY’S PRESTIGIOUS STANFORD STARTX COMMUNITY

Singapore, 11 March 2019 – Advent Access (Advent), one of Singapore’s most innovative medtech companies, today announced that it has been selected by StartX to be part of its 2019 Spring cohort. StartX is an educational non-profit organization with the mission to accelerate the development of top entrepreneurs in the Stanford University network. Advent Access and its founder are accepted into the program in recognition of their strong potential to achieve a medical breakthrough in the development of its award-winning av-Guardian^TM technology for hemodialysis.

StartX is a community of serial entrepreneurs, industry experts, tenured Stanford professors, and well-funded growth-stage startups. To date, over 650 StartX companies have raised US$6.7 billion in funding. Among the medical companies in the community, US$1.8 billion has been raised by approximately 160 companies and 24 Food and Drug Administration approvals have been obtained. Companies undergo a rigorous selection process and the program is highly competitive. Historically only eight per cent of applicants are accepted from a pool of around 300 applicant companies per batch.

Advent Access will leverage the powerful networks, resources and funding available through StartX as it continues the late-stage development of its av-Guardian^TM technology. The av-Guardian^TM is the world’s first medical implant to pioneer the concept of having a “guardian guide-door” for dialysis needles to optimally enter a specially created dialysis vein, an arteriovenous fistula (AV fistula), without the implant being in contact with the vein. Advent Access is currently conducting a second clinical study to evaluate the potential for av-Guardian^TM to assist in self-cannulation and, ultimately, to enable more patients to benefit from home or self-hemodialysis. Advent expects to complete the study later in 2019.

Peh Ruey Feng, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Advent Access, said: “This is an exciting time for Advent Access as we approach important milestones for the company in 2019. Our selection to join the StartX program is further validation of the work of our team in pioneering a potential solution to one of the biggest needs in hemodialysis today – easy and reliable access to the AV fistula that ultimately improves patient outcomes, comfort, and unlock novel care environments. We look forward to collaborating closely with the StartX community members and the access to Stanford’s wide network of corporate partners and investors.”

Joseph Huang, Chief Executive Officer of StartX, added: ”We are delighted to welcome Ruey Feng Peh and Advent Access to the StartX community. We believe that entrepreneurs can achieve far more as a group than they can as individuals and we have seen strong evidence of this in the high number of companies within StartX reaching a valuation of more than US$100m. Advent Access joins our group at a time when global healthcare payors are calling for a transformation in the treatment of kidney disease by moving care into the home setting to lower costs. We are excited to work with Ruey to realise his vision of the av-Guardian^TM in addressing that exact need.”

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About Advent Access

Advent Access is a medical technology startup focused on end-stage renal disease management. Founded on the principles of Stanford Biodesign and as a spin-off from A*STAR, Advent Access’ mission is to pioneer innovations to significantly reduce dialysis cost and restore quality of life for kidney failure patients. Advent Access’ first product is the av-Guardian™ - an award-winning implant technology that aims to improve vascular access reliability, enable less-painful self-cannulation and in the long run, potentially reduce vascular access surgeries or hospitalizations. The av-Guardian^TM forms a key component of Advent Access’ dialysis-machine agnostic platform to transform hemodialysis to be performed independently, safely and more affordably. Centered around the patient, the av-Guardian^TM and the self-care platform seek to enable labour-light dialysis to be delivered in novel or alternative care environments. For more information on Advent Access, please visit www.adventaccess.com

About StartX

StartX is a 501(c)(3) Stanford-affiliated nonprofit in Silicon Valley. StartX is a collection of serial entrepreneurs, industry experts, tenured Stanford professors, and well-funded growth-stage startups who believe that entrepreneurs can achieve more as a group, than they can as individuals. As a community, the goal is to find creative ways to collaborate, so that each entrepreneurs has the largest possible long-term positive impact on the world that it can. Its mission is to advance the development of the best entrepreneurs through experiential education and peer learning. Since launching in 2010, StartX has supported more than 650 companies and over 1400 entrepreneurs, from early to pre-IPO stage, working across a wide spectrum of industries. StartX and StartX Med, dedicated to medical and biotechnology innovation, provide founders with access to a powerful network of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors, and industry partners, along with office space and a variety of other resources. Based in Palo Alto, the community also operates StartX-QB3 Labs and the Stanford-StartX Fund. www.startx.com