Irish VCs invest US$17.3m in coronary specialist

European VCs have backed a series C funding round of Cappella, an Irish medical devices company.

The Galway -based business raised US$17.3m from new investors Fountain Healthcare Partners and Enterprise Ireland, both headquartered in Dublin, and Mitsui & Co Venture Partners from Japan. PolyTechnos Venture Partners, the German firm, and Irish house ACT Venture Capital returned as existing investors.

Cappella is using the money for the European launch of its proprietary treatment for coronary artery lesions in sidebranch and bifurcation locations, as well as using some of the proceeds to support key R&D programs in Galway, Ireland.

The company’s new CEO, Dr. Art Rosenthal, said “This funding will allow us to expand our pipeline, to supplement on-going clinical studies and to successfully launch our first product, the Sideguard(TM) Sidebranch stent. We believe our proprietary products will treat many types of bifurcation disease, including Left Main Bifurcation Disease. In 2008, this was a US$1bn worldwide market and it is growing annually.”

Explaining his firm’s investment, Dr Wolfgang Oster, managing partner at Polytechnos and chairman of Cappella’s Board, said: “As founding investors of Cappella, we are delighted to close this substantial round of finance for a company which we believe has the potential to lead the field of bifurcation devices. The commercial expertise which the new investors bring to the table in Europe, US and Japan is reassuring and will help to accelerate the company’s marketing efforts of its device portfolio. Importantly, the continued participation of our syndicate partners, in particular ACT Venture Capital, in our common cause was a prerequisite to get the company to this exciting value inflection point.”