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Fluidda and Materialise announce partnership to develop personalized solutions for lung patients

Materialise invests 2.5mio EUR in Fluidda as part of a 4mio EUR Funding round.

Fluidda announces a new phase in its collaboration with Materialise (NASDAQ: MTLS), to expand personalized treatment options in the respiratory care, building on its image based software. As part of the partnership, Materialise invests 2.5mio EUR in Fluidda and Wilfried Vancraen, founder and CEO of Materialise, will join the board of directors at Fluidda.

The companies want to collaborate more closely to accelerate the development of personalized solutions in pulmonology. Fluidda’s proprietary imaging technology, Functional Respiratory Imaging (FRI) based on airflow monitoring, combines CT scan images with computer based flow simulations, allowing for a better visualization of airflows in lung patients. By combining this with the experience of Materialise in medical 3D printing and planning, both companies want to develop more personalized solutions that can help the growing number of patients suffering from COPD, asthma, and other respiratory diseases.

As part of the partnership, Materialise led a 4mio EUR funding round with a 2.5mio EUR investment. Fluidda will use part of these resources to accelerate this joint development of a treatment solution that can support clinicians to help patients with a personalized regional treatment, based upon the FRI technology.

Wilfried Vancraen, founder and CEO of Materialise, will join the board of directors at Fluidda. He brings 30 years of experience as entrepreneur in 3D printing and personalized approaches in the medical field.

Jan De Backer, CEO of Fluidda, states: "We are very excited and proud to enter into this new phase of partnership with Materialise. We share the vision that the medical field, and particularly respiratory healthcare imaging needs to evolve towards personalized, precision medicine through a value-based healthcare approach. We are confident that advanced imaging techniques, such as our Functional Respiratory Imaging methods, can add value in this regard."

Wilfried Vancraen, CEO of Materialise, states: "Fluidda was one of the first users of the pulmonology features of the Materialise Mimics software suite and it is a nice example of how new technologies for healthcare diagnostics are being developed in collaboration with Materialise’s expertise in medical engineering. With this partnership we can help even more patients, bringing the possibilities of 3D printing and planning to the pulmonology market.”

Media contacts:
Materialise
Bram Smits
+32 488 13 77 25
bram.smits@materialise.be

Fluidda
Vicky Buyse
+32 496 28 97 42
vicky.buyse@fluidda.com

About Fluidda

Fluidda, a world leading Lung Imaging Company, headquartered in Belgium, uses artificial intelligence and advanced machine learning to combine low dose High-Resolution CT Scan images with advanced computer based flow simulations (Computational Fluid Dynamics), allowing for better care of lung patients. Fluidda’s proprietary technology, Functional Respiratory Imaging (FRI), has been used in more than 80 clinical studies over the last 10 years, supporting the Respiratory Health Community and Clinical Research to enhance drug development and patient care. For additional information, please visit: www.fluidda.com.

About Materialise

Materialise incorporates nearly 3 decades of 3D printing experience into a range of software solutions and 3D printing services, which together form the backbone of the 3D printing industry. Materialise’s open and flexible solutions enable players in a wide variety of industries, including healthcare, automotive, aerospace, art and design, and consumer goods, to build innovative 3D printing applications that aim to make the world a better and healthier place. Headquartered in Belgium, with branches worldwide, Materialise combines the largest group of software developers in the industry with one of the largest 3D printing facilities in the world. For additional information, please visit: www.materialise.com.

About Materialise’s Medical Division

Materialise Medical, which has pioneered many of the leading medical applications of 3D printing, enables researchers, engineers and clinicians to revolutionize innovative patient-specific treatment that helps improve and save lives. Materialise Medical’s open and flexible platform of software and services, Materialise Mimics, forms the foundation of certified Medical 3D printing, in clinical as well as research environments, offering virtual planning software tools, 3D-printed anatomical models, and patient-specific surgical guides and implants. For additional information, please visit: medical.materialise.com

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, regarding, among other things, our intentions, beliefs, assumptions, projections, outlook, analyses or current expectations, plans, objectives, strategies and prospects, both financial and business, including statements concerning, among other things, current estimates of fiscal 2019 revenues, deferred revenue from annual licenses and maintenance and Adjusted EBITDA, our expectations regarding fiscal 2019 sales, Adjusted EBITDA margin and investments, results of operations, cash needs, capital expenditures, expenses, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth and strategies (including our strategic priorities for 2019), and the trends and competition that may affect the markets, industry or us. Such statements are subject to known and unknown uncertainties and risks. When used in this press release, the words “estimate,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “project,” “plan,” “intend,” “believe,” “forecast,” “will,” “may,” “could,” “might,” “aim,” “should,” and variations of such words or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based upon the expectations of management under current assumptions at the time of this press release. These expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith and the company believes there is a reasonable basis for them. However, the company cannot offer any assurance that our expectations, beliefs and projections will actually be achieved. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events, competitive dynamics and industry change, and depend on economic circumstances that may or may not occur in the future or may occur on longer or shorter timelines than anticipated. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control. All of the forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause the company's actual results to differ materially from our expectations, including risk factors described in the company's annual report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 30, 2018. There are a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release.

The company is providing this information as of the date of this press release and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless it has obligations under the federal securities laws to update and disclose material developments related to previously disclosed information.

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