As published in Toledo Business Journal - September 1, 2017
VentureMed Group raises $15M for equity financing
VentureMed Group®, Inc., (VMG) a medical device company developing and commercializing next-generation endovascular products to treat patients suffering from peripheral artery disease (PAD), has raised $15 million in new equity financing. The Series B Round was led by new investor Endeavour Vision, a technology and life science investor based in Geneva, Switzerland, and also included new investor RiverVest Venture Partners, a St. Louis, MO-based venture capital firm dedicated to life science and healthcare investing.
VMG was started just before ProMedica Innovations was established in 2012. One of the founders was John Pigott, MD, chief science officer at VMG and chief innovations officer at ProMedica.
John Pigott, MD, chief science officer at VMG
and chief innovations officer at ProMedica
“We are very pleased to have Endeavour Vision’s and RiverVest Venture Partners’ support to help build our team and expand our product line, enabling us to help physicians provide expanded treatment options for their PAD patients,” said Pigott. “For over 20 years, I’ve been treating patients suffering from vascular disease, focusing on improving clinical outcomes, and reducing treatment times, while remaining cognizant of procedural costs,” Pigott explained. “As a vascular surgeon, I can visualize how disease in the artery responds to various devices that have come to market over the decades. I invented the FLEX Scoring Catheter® to provide interventionalists with a cost-effective solution for treating patients with challenging PAD. Physicians are not only seeing excellent outcomes in PAD patients treated with FLEX Scoring Catheters, but are equally excited about its use in complex dialysis interventions.” Arteriovenous fistulas (AVF) and grafts (AVG) are created to provide access for hemodialysis patients suffering from end-stage renal disease.
According to officials, the proceeds from the equity financing will be used to fund VentureMed’s strategic clinical plan (which includes current and future trials in the US and Europe) and key operational research and development programs; expand the company’s worldwide commercial team; and support regulatory and reimbursement initiatives for the company’s lead technology platform, FLEX, an innovative, cost-effective device for the endovascular treatment of patients suffering from PAD and arteriovenous access complications.
“The investment from these highly successful, international investment firms represents a significant endorsement of our technology and our team,” said VentureMed Group’s CEO, Gary Smith. “In this ever-changing healthcare environment, innovative medical device companies must continue to deliver new technology platforms and treatment options that improve outcomes and reduce costs,” Smith continued.
The use of drug-eluting balloons concomitantly with vessel preparation devices to treat stenosis of the lower extremities can improve outcomes, according to Ian Cawich, MD, of Arkansas Heart Hospital, in Little Rock, Arkansas, who was one of the first physicians in the United States to use the FLEX Scoring Catheter. “The FLEX Scoring Catheter is an innovative and promising technology for patients suffering from vascular disease. My initial experience has been all positive: it is a safe, quick, easy to use vessel prep device that could potentially reduce overall procedure time and cost,” said Cawich.
“Endeavour Vision’s current fund is dedicated to transformational technologies in medical devices and digital health,” said Alexander Schmitz, Senior Investment Director at Endeavour Vision. “We are excited to support a company with the potential to make significant improvements in the lives of millions of men and women globally who suffer from peripheral vascular diseases and others suffering from the challenging management of renal dialysis access.”
“RiverVest Venture Partners, is pleased to be participating in this financing,” said Karen Spilizewski, vice president at RiverVest Venture Partners. “VentureMed’s innovative technology platform, partnered with its talented team, positions it to improve the treatment of PAD and AV access, and to significantly benefit physicians and their patients worldwide.”
