Harpoon Medical, a US-based medical device developer backed by Maryland University’s tech transfer office UM Ventures, has raised $17.5m to date, the Baltimore Sun has reported.
Edwards Lifesciences Corporation, a medical equipment company focused on developing treatments for advanced cardiovascular diseases, made an upfront investment in Harpoon in December 2015, when Edwards announced it also held an exclusive option to acquire the company.
The size of Edwards’ investment was not disclosed, but Bill Niland, chief executive of Harpoon, told the Sun on December 14 that it was “magnitudes larger” than the previous $6 million the company had raised from other investors.
Founded in 2013, Harpoon Medical is the developer of a surgical tool used to repair the heart’s mitral valve, using technology first developed in the cardiac surgery division of Maryland University at Baltimore’s school of medicine.
With the Harpoon Mitral Valve Repair System, surgeons no longer need to stop the heart from beating or perform a cardiopulmonary bypass in order to repair the mitral valve – they can access a live, beating heart via a small incision between the ribs.
The surgical procedure can then be completed in about 60 minutes instead of between three and six hours, and the recovery period is also reduced, from weeks to days.
Edwards’ investment in Harpoon in December 2015 was used to fund a large, multicentre clinical trial as part of Harpoon’s efforts to secure a CE mark, which confirms that a medical device has met EU safety standards and requirements and can be sold in the European Economic Area.
Harpoon secured $1.4m in convertible debt financing from unnamed investors as part of a $2m bridge round in September 2015, Baltimore Business Journal reported at the time.
Before that, Maryland University’s tech transfer office UM Ventures took part in Harpoon’s $3.9m series A round in 2014.
Other backers were nonprofit organisation Abell Foundation, early-stage investor Maryland Venture Fund, managed by Maryland state-backed tech transfer office Maryland Technology Development Corporation (Tedco) and investment firm Epidarex Capital, which led the round.
University venturing fund Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII), which is supported by five local research universities and run by Tedco, awarded Harpoon $200,000 in the same year.
MII offers awards of up to $265,000 in the form of convertible debt. The debt can be converted to equity at Tedco’s discretion if the investee company collects a minimum of $500,000 in additional funding.
