Evalve, a Menlo Park, Calif., developer of minimally invasive heart-valve repair implants, raised $60 million in a fourth funding round.
mitral valve, which regulates blood flow between the left two chambers of the heart, fails to close properly. The device allows interventional cardiologists to thread an implant clip through the femoral artery of the leg to the heart, where it can pin together two "leaflets" on the mitral valve.
The images at left show the mitral valve prior to the procedure and following installation of the company's MitraClip. (Obviously, these represent a somewhat idealized view of how this is all supposed to work.) Evalve also has a video illustrating the technique at its Web site here.
Investors included BBT Fund, Delphi Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, Split Rock Partners and Abbott Laboratories. Evalve isn't alone in this market, although it appears to be ahead of one rival we've previously covered, Cardiosolutions (see here).
Cardiosolutions aims to restore mitral-valve function with a paddle-type implant that pushes the valve's leaflets closed during ventricular contraction. For additional -- albeit somewhat dense -- explanation, plus its own video of the process, see the company's site here.