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| Surefire Medical raised $18.2 million to market its infusion systems.--Courtesy of Surefire Medical |
Surefire Medical has wrapped up an $18.2 million Series B, cash it'll use to market its line of microcatheters and fund the development of next-generation infusion systems.
The funding comes courtesy of MCG Partners, Partisan Management Group, High Country Ventures and what Surefire terms some "super angel" backers. Now, the company has the money it needs to expand the adoption of its eponymous infusion system, a minimally invasive microcatheter used to deliver therapeutic agents straight to their targets, sparing healthy tissues.
Surefire is counting on its devices' oncology applications to help fuel growth, as the company's FDA-cleared and CE marked fleet of catheters are often used to combat liver cancer. Fewer than 20% of the 2.2 million worldwide liver cancer cases are operable, Surefire said, but many can be treated with catheter-based chemoembolization, and the company's flexible devices can help oncologists optimize dose delivery and provide benefits to patients previously considered untreatable.
The protracted downswing for medical device venture capital has made it difficult to find funding for innovative companies, Partisan's Norm Weldon said, but Surefire's stable of reliable angel investors has allowed it to grow in a tough market, and CEO Jim Chomas said the Colorado company is thinking globally with its latest raise.
"Thanks to the enthusiastic support of our funders, we can expand our worldwide sales, particularly into the Asia-Pacific market where we recently received regulatory clearance," Chomas said in a statement. "The funding also enables Surefire to fuel company growth with the development of our next-generation infusion system, which will reach into the smallest vessels and further advance minimally invasive cancer treatment."
The latest round follows a $6.1 million Series A Surefire closed in 2011.
- read the announcement