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| Brian Halak, Domain Elite founder |
Domain Associates' Elite enterprise is making its first investment in a China-focused company. The venture capital firm will sink $6.5 million into SMART Medical Systems, an Israeli developer and manufacturer of cost-effective endoscopy and colonoscopy products.
The investment is part of a multiphase plan in which Domain Elite will allocate funds to advance SMART Medical's platform of gastrointestinal (GI) medical devices for cancer prevention and endoscopic surgery in Greater China. Colorectal cancer is the second most frequent cancer in China, and the Cancer Registry noted last year that the number of colorectal cancer diagnoses over the past decade in Hong Kong has doubled, the firm said in a statement. Domain hopes to address a growing healthcare need by investing in SMART Medical's GI devices.
"The mission of Domain Elite is to find the most effective medical technologies to fulfill important unmet medical needs and improve healthcare in China," founder Brian Halak said in a statement. "In so doing, Domain will create unique investment opportunities in the rapidly growing Chinese market. SMART Medical Systems has an innovative and well-validated technology that we believe accomplishes both goals."
Last year, Domain Associates partnered with Elite Consulting to form Domain Elite, an enterprise dedicated to launching biopharma ventures in China. Domain already had a number of biotech companies in its pocket, teaming up with Elite to identify and develop promising med tech and pharma startups with products geared toward the Chinese market.
"We have a long history of starting companies," Halak told FierceBiotech when the partnership was announced. "We have a network we can draw on to find interesting assets and bring capital to the table. (The staffers at) Elite consulting know the Chinese market extremely well."
At the time of the deal, Halak said Domain Elite didn't have any "strict criteria" for investing. The group planned on seeding new companies and then wrangling in other enterprise groups to back potential ventures.
As one of the most active biotech investors in the U.S., Domain's reputation could precede itself. In 2013, the firm paired up with Russian investment group Rusnano to sink $21 million into a nanotechnology developer. Domain also partnered with Rusnano in 2012 to fund a San Diego-based biotech outfit.
- here's the release