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San Francisco’s EndoVention, a developer of catheters for use in blood-clot removal, raised $1.5 million of an expected $2.5 million first round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Such catheters are flexible tubes that doctors can insert into blocked blood vessels in order to “vacuum out” clots, sometimes with the assistances of clot-dissolving drugs. EndoVention’s device has an “expandable mouth” to regulate the intake of clots.

Angel investors provided the funding, EndoVention CEO Peter Yorke told VentureWire.

Ekos, a Bothell, Wash., maker of ultrasound-enhanced drug-delivery systems, raised $10 million in debt capital from Hercules Technology Growth Capital. The financing will support the sales and marketing of drug-delivery catheters that feature an ultrasound system designed to help drugs break up blood clots more quickly. Ekos launched its catheters in early 2006.

Ekos most recently raised $26 million in a third financing round led by Ascension Health Ventures, joined by new investors Oakwood Medical Investors and Trellis Health Ventures and previous investors CID Equity Capital, EGS Private Healthcare Investors, MedVenture Associates, Mitsui & Co. Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners and NGN Capital.

The company’s release is here.