CardioMind, a secretive Sunnyvale, Calif., developer of stents designed to prop open blocked arteries, raised $33 million in a third round of funding, VentureWire reports (subscription required). From the VentureWire story:
CardioMind, with 30 employees, is developing small-diameter drug-eluting stents and delivery devices for cardiovascular and neurological indications and has been largely operating in stealth mode for the past five years.
SV Life Sciences and De Novo Ventures led the round, joined by InterWest Partners, Latterell Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures and Onset Ventures.
CardioMind had previously raised $20 million in two financing rounds, according to VentureWire.
Despite recent concerns over the safety of drug-eluting stents, which are coated with a substance designed to prevent growth of scar tissue that can reblock arteries, new stent companies have continued to get a warm welcome from investors. Menlo Park, Calif.-based Xtent, for instance, raised $76 million in a February IPO. In May, Devax, a Lake Forest, Calif., stent developer, filed to raise up to $85 million in an IPO.
3:06 pm
VentureBeat » The storm over stents hits venture firms, as Devax yanks $85M IPO filing said:
[...] That’s particularly bad news for venture-backed stent makers, which had seemed to ride out the storm over stent safety fairly well over the past year. In February, for instance, XTent raised $76 million in an IPO, while in July CardioMind pulled in $33 million in a third venture round (our coverage here and here). [...]
1:33 pm
Stent maker CardioMind starts trial, gets $22M » VentureBeat said:
[...] CardioMind, a Sunnyvale, Calif., developer of artery-opening stents, said it launched the first human tests of its experimental product. That milestone triggered the release of $22 million — a second tranche of a $33 million funding the company initially reported last July. [...]