Allurion Technologies raised $19 million of a $27 million offering. The Natick, Massachusetts-based company markets an ingestible weight-loss balloon in parts of Europe and the Middle East.
The company’s flagship device, the Elipse Balloon, is a procedureless gastric balloon—a patient swallows the device in a doctor’s office without the need for endoscopy or anesthesia.
It is delivered as a capsule attached to a catheter. The capsule degrades in the stomach, allowing the balloon to be filled with 550 mL of fluid via catheter. This takes about 10 minutes. Once the balloon is filled, the catheter is detached and removed through the mouth. It helps patients lose weight by causing them to feel full and eat less.
At the end of the treatment period, a release valve on the device opens, letting the balloon deflate. Small and flexible, the empty device passes through the gastrointestinal tract until it’s excreted.
In an SEC filing, the company did not disclose individual investors that participated in the financing, though it did note that 45 investors, including three non-U.S. backers, took part. In May last year, the company picked up $6 million in a financing led by Romulus Capital.
The Elipse earned a CE mark in December 2015. "Excess weight often has a profound impact on health and quality of life including work, relationships and self-perception," Allurion Chief Scientific Officer Dr. Shantanu Gaur said at the time. "Weight loss therapies that require surgery, endoscopy or anesthesia are often too invasive and can be too expensive for people who might otherwise greatly benefit from them."