HotSpur launches dialysis technology with new $2.75M
HotSpur Technologies, developer of technology for less invasive dialysis, has brought in $2.75 million to bring its two lead products to market. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the company is backed by Onset Ventures, Bio-Star Private Equity Fund, Finistere Partners, Saratoga Ventures, Three Arch Partners and Versant Ventures. It last raised money in November 2008, bringing in $1.75 million in a first round. Dow Jones VentureWire reports that it will need to raise $5 to… Continue Reading
Satiety fills up on $25.3M for obesity treatments
Satiety, maker of a minimally-invasive medical device that reduces obesity, has raised $25.3 million of an anticipated $33 million round of equity and rights, according to a filing with the SEC. The Palo Alto, Calif. company was previously backed by HLM Venture Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures, Pinnacle Ventures, Skyline Ventures, Thomas Fogarty, Three Arch Partners and Venrock. It has raised four rounds of funding to date, not including a $7.5 million bridge loan from its investors… Continue Reading
Satiety secures $7.5M bridge for tummy tuck shortcut
Satiety, maker of a minimally-invasive device that shrinks stomach capacity via the mouth, has landed a $7.5 million bridge loan from its existing investors — a group that includes Skyline Ventures, HLM Venture Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, Morgenthaler Ventures, Three Arch Partners, Venrock and medical inventor Thomas Fogarty, reports VentureWire.
Based in Palo Alto, Calif., the company is still developing its lead product, called the TOGA System, which makes users feel sufficiently full after eating very little…. Continue Reading
SpinalMotion stacks up $500K for fake spinal discs
Artificial spinal disc producer SpinalMotion, just tacked $500,000 onto its $20 million third round of funding through a patent licensing agreement with an unnamed corporation. Based in Mountain View, Calif., the company makes both cervical and lumbar artificial discs that are still undergoing clinical trials. It plans to request product approval from the Food and Drug Administration by the middle of the year, reports VentureWire. At that point, it will probably seek out a fourth… Continue Reading
Allux Medical shuts down, turns to Sherwood
Silicon Valley shutdown/turnaround consultancy Sherwood Partners has been called in by ailing Allux Medical, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based developer of devices used to treat airway and skin inflammatory diseases. The company, which managed to raise $13 million in capital and a $1.68 million bridge round, has already unplugged its web site and phone number. Sherwood has not released any plans for Allux, nor the status of the company, which had operated in stealth mode since… Continue Reading
Arete nabs $16.7M more to treat metabolic disorders
Biotech company Arete Therapeutics brought in $16.7 million in the final tranche of a first round of funding that now totals $51 million. The Hayward, Calif.-based company will use the money to push its lead treatment for metabolic syndrome through a second phase of clinical trials. It also develops drugs for inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases, focusing on an enzyme that breaks down arachidonic acid (a critical component of those ailments).
The financing round has… Continue Reading
Nevro raises $22 million for pain therapy
Nevro Corp. has raised $22 million in a first round of funding. The Palo Alto, Calif. company is conducting clinical trials for its neuromodulation therapy for chronic pain. New investor Accuitive Medical Ventures joined return investors Aberdare Ventures, Bay City Capital, Mayo Clinic, MPM Capital and Three Arch Partners. Nevro raised a $5.5 million seed round in 2006.
New $32M round helps APT battle lung transplant rejection
APT Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that it has raised $32 million in its second round from a flock of investors led by Three Arch Partners, and including InterWest Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, Charter Life Sciences, Great Point Partners, Versant Ventures and Vivo Ventures.
APT, headquartered in Burlingame, Calif., develops drugs to combat lung diseases. Currently, the spotlight is on a compound that could prevent lung transplant rejection. The company plans to use the $55 million brought in… Continue Reading
Spinal device developer Baxano raises $20M
Baxano, a startup in stealth mode that’s developing a spinal medical device, has raised $20 million in a second round of funding, according to VentureWire. The round was led by new backer Kearny Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors Prospect Venture Partners and Three Arch Partners.
Mountain View, Calif.-based Baxano raised an $8.6 million first round in Deember 2006. Chief executive Jeffrey Bleich says his company’s device will be less invasive and more effective than… Continue Reading
Voyage Medical raises $22M for heart treatment
Voyage Medical, which is developing new treatment for a heart condition called atrial fibrillation, has raised $22 million in a second round of financing. New investor Three Arch Partners led the round, with participation from Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers (also a new investor) and existing investor RWI Ventures, according to VentureWire.
Atrial fibrillation is a heart abnormality that affects 2.2 million Americans. Three Arch partner Bill Harrington told VentureWire that Voyage Medical’s technique will improve… Continue Reading
Novasys Medical takes $49.5M for women’s medical device
Novasys Medical is a Newark, Calif. medical company that makes a device for a specific condition affecting some women, called female stress urinary incontinence.
The device Novasys makes is the only real alternative to surgery for women with the problem, according to an interview with the CEO in VentureWire, which also reported the funding.
The $49.5 million was led by Versant Ventures, with participation from Skyline Ventures, Three Arch Partners, Affinity Capital Management, Alloy Ventures, Delphi Ventures,… Continue Reading
Life-science briefing: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Antibody-discovery startup Adimab raises new funding (release)
Lung-device maker Spiration gets $19M (release)
Sample-prep startup Protein Discovery pulls in $10M (release)
Inogen takes in $13M for portable oxygen device (VentureWire)
Healthcare IT concern Medaptus raises $11M for expansion (VentureWire)
Contract lab Synexis raises $14M (peHUB)
Medical-device VC firm BioStar Ventures takes in $24M of $80M fund (peHUB)
Halsa Pharma gets $250K for “natural” obesity-control treatment (release)
Diagnostics provider Lab21 acquires NPTech (peHUB)
Galil Medical names Martin Emerson CEO (release)
Antibody-discovery startup Adimab raises new funding – Lebanon,… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Monday, Jan. 7, 2008
TODAY’S HEADLINES:
Surgical-device maker Aragon Surgical receives $25M (release)
Tacere Therapeutics strikes RNAi deal with Pfizer for up to $145M (release)
Benvenue Medical raises $15M for spine-repair devices (release)
Genome-association co. Genizon BioSciences draws C$31M (release)
Contract research organization Inclinix pulls in $10M (release)
EPocrates, healthcare IT developer, gets strategic investment from Goldman Sachs (release)
ZyGem closes first funding round (release)
Onset Ventures names John Ryan partner (release)
Retired Scripps immunologist Richard Ulevitch joins 5AM Ventures (release)
SV Life Sciences promotes Darren Black to partner… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
Featured companies: Algorithme Pharma, Bacchus Vascular, Botaneco, Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Ikonisys, Healthcare Management Systems, Illumigen Biosciences, Kilmer Capital Partners, Medical Specialties Distributors, Metastatix, Microphage, Orthosoft, Thomas McNerney & Partners, TranS1, TriReme Medical, Wren Medical, Zimmer
UPDATE: Expanded TriReme Medical, Ikonisys and TranS1 items.
UPDATE REDUX: Added MicroPhage item.
Stent-maker TriReme Medical sails off with $15.6M — Pleasanton, Calif.-based TriReme Medical, a device maker developing a new type of artery-opening stent for blood-vessel junctions, raised $15.6 million in a third funding… Continue Reading
VisionCare’s implantable microtelescope — a bionic eye for AMD-related blindness
An implantable and odd-looking microtelescope from a Saratoga, Calif., device maker could be one of the next big things in treating a common form of blindness — assuming that patients are willing to endure arduous surgery in order to obtain their new bionic eyes.
Age-related macular degeneration — a progressive loss of sight related to physical changes in the central retina, also called the macula — is the leading cause of blindness among elderly Americans, now… Continue Reading
Life sciences briefing: Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2007
Featured companies: Tenaxis Medical, Aspen MedTech, Biolex Therapeutics
Tenaxis closes up $5M for surgical sealants — Mountain View, Calif.-based Tenaxis Medical, a developer of glues and sealants for closing surgical incisions, raised $5 million in a second funding round, VentureWire reports (subscription required). Individual investors, including several limited partners in Magic Venture Capital, provided the funding.
Tenaxis began clinical trials of its first experimental product, a sealant for blood vessels, last month. The company plans to use the… Continue Reading
Satiety pulls in $30M for obesity device
Satiety, a Palo Alto, Calif., device maker focused on obesity, raised $30 million in a fourth round of funding. Skyline Ventures led the round, joined by HLM Venture Partners, Pinnacle Ventures, Venrock, Three Arch Partners, Morgenthaler Ventures and Thomas Fogarty.
Satiety is developing a minimally invasive device for stomach-reduction surgery consisting of a stapling tool that can be passed down the throat into the stomach. The company was founded in 2001.
Arete raises $35M for cardiovascular treatments
Arete Therapeutics, a Hayward, Calif., developer of biotech cardiovascular treatments, raised a $35 million extension to its first round of funding. Founded in 2003, the company is working on “small molecule” drugs that target a metabolism-related chain of biochemical cellular signals that involves arachidonic acid. (If that isn’t enough to make your head hurt, the company has a detailed explanation here.) Drugs that interfere with that pathway could be useful in treating high blood pressure… Continue Reading
NeuroVista raises $33.8M for epilepsy devices
(CORRECTED: See below.)
Seattle-based NeuroVista, a developer of devices for the treatment of epilepsy, raised $33.8 million in a second-round funding and left behind its former name, BioNeuronics.
The company, founded in 2002 by whiz kid Daniel DiLorenzo, has been quiet about its technology and commercial direction. In April, however, DiLorenzo received a patent for a “neurological control system” using “closed-loop intracranial stimulation” for the “optimal control of neurological disease.” In other words, given NeuroVista’s public interest in… Continue Reading
Pegasus Bio gets $20M for surgical-repair bioimplants
Pegasus Biologics, an Irvine, Calif., maker of flexible-but-strong tissue substitutes designed to speed muscle-tendon repair or wound healing, raised $20 million in a third round of funding.
Despite the word “biologics” in its name — a term that is often synonymous with protein-based biotechnology drugs — Pegasus isn’t a drug company. Nor is it strictly a medical-device maker. Instead, the company has devised “bioimplants” made from equine pericardium — horse heart, in other words — that… Continue Reading