TransEnterix has closed $15 million in venture capital financing that the company says will accelerate the development and commercialization of its flexible medical devices. The funding represents the second tranche of the company's Series B that was secured in 2009.
In an email to MedCity News, CEO Todd Pope said he didn't want to go into too much detail about the funding, but he did say the company has "great plans and expectations" for it. Current investors helped spearhead the financing, he added. The company boasts of a number of backers including Aisling Capital, Synergy Life Science Partners, SV Life Sciences, Intersouth Partners, Parish Capital Advisors and Quaker BioVentures.
TransEnterix markets the SPIDER surgical system, which provides a more integrated alternative to single-incision trocars and traditional hand instruments, throughout the U.S. and Europe. The system has been used in a variety of general surgery procedures, including cholecystectomy, inguinal hernia repair, colectomy and Nissen fundoplication.
During minimally invasive surgery, the doctor makes one small incision in the patient's navel, inserts the SPIDER system and expands it like an umbrella. He then inserts a camera and off-the-shelf tools through SPIDER's two static ports. The system gives doctors two flexible channels for right- and left-hand instruments with 360-degree range of motion. The product's flexible instruments and intra-abdominal triangulation capability are technologies not available in any other surgical system on the market, according to a company statement.
According to BCC Research estimates, the global laparoscopy market was $6.8 billion in 2011 and could reach $10.6 billion in 2016, MedCity News notes.
The 5-year-old TransEnterix was founded under the auspices of Synecor, a privately held business accelerator. In 2008, it secured $21 million in the first round of institutional financing. It also boasts of an experienced team: Pope held positions at both Johnson & Johnson's ($JNJ) Cordis unit and at Boston Scientific ($BSX).
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