Mainstay Medical Raises $20 Million in Funding Round
The World Health Organization reports that low back pain is the most prevalent of musculoskeletal conditions, and affects nearly everyone at some point in time. Low back pain is the number one cause of lost working days in the developed world, with a staggering 7.5 Million people in the US with chronic back pain at any time, and similar numbers for Europe. The cost to society of lost working days and health care treatment is enormous. For many of these people, low back pain results from malfunction of muscles responsible for spine stability. Mainstay Medical has developed a novel approach using an implantable device like a “pacemaker for the back” to restore spine stability to ameliorate pain and allow return to work.
Mainstay was founded in 2008 by serial entrepreneur Dr. Danny Sachs, and then under the leadership of CEO Peter Crosby, Mainstay conducted a European Feasibility Study across four leading clinics in Europe. The promise of the new therapy was clearly demonstrated in that Feasibility Study and in parallel the Company also advanced the development of its own proprietary products, and added to its intellectual property portfolio. Mainstay will use the proceeds of the Series B financing to expand the team for product development, quality, clinical, regulatory and administration, as it moves towards its goals of achieving regulatory approval in Europe and running a global clinical trial leading to a PMA submission to the FDA in the US.
Dr. Manus Rogan, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Fountain Healthcare Partners said, “We are excited about Mainstay, and the potential to relieve the back pain suffered by millions of people worldwide. We are particularly pleased that Mainstay and the syndicate of international investors has recognised the economic value and attractiveness of Ireland as a location to build an innovative medical device company.”
Mainstay Medical Chief Executive Peter Crosby commented, “Our early clinical results are very encouraging, and with this new investment we will be able to make great progress in advancing Mainstay’s products from concept to reality, and start to build our business.” Mr. Crosby added, “The Mainstay approach has the potential to save billions of dollars on health care expenditure, while also creating a multi-billion market for us, so it is a winning situation all around.”
Antoine Papiernik, Managing Partner at Sofinnova Partners remarked, “We saw the vision of Mainstay when it was presented to us as just an idea, and we took the risk to lead the first investment. It is great to see that the company has advanced so far, so quickly, and so efficiently. We are pleased to add such quality new investors to the syndicate.” As part of the financing Dr. Manus Rogan (Fountain) will join the Board of Directors, and Dr. Stephen Oesterle (Medtronic), Dr. Frank Bulens (Capricorn) and Iain Wilcock (Seventure) will become Observers. Existing independent director Andrew Weiss (CEO Coaxia, past head of Medtronic Neuromodulation business) will continue.
About Mainstay Medical Ltd
Mainstay Medical Ltd. is a privately held, venture backed, Dublin (Ireland) based medical device company. The company develops products for patients with chronic low back pain. Check back often as we create our web presence at www.mainstay-medical.com
About Fountain Healthcare Partners
Fountain Healthcare Partners (“Fountain”) is a life science focused venture capital fund headquartered in Dublin, Ireland with a second office in New York, US. Fountain specialises in making investments in biotechnology, medical device, specialty pharma and diagnostic companies. www.fh partners.com
About Sofinnova Partners
Sofinnova Partners is an independent venture capital firm based in Paris, France. For 40 years, the firm has backed nearly 500 companies at different stages of their development – pure creations, spin-offs, as well as turnaround situations – and worked alongside Europe’s key entrepreneurs in the Life Sciences, Technology and Cleantech sectors. With €1.1 billion of funds under management, Sofinnova Partners’ experienced team and hands-on approach in building portfolio companies through to exit have created market leaders. www.sofinnova.fr
About Medtronic
Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE:MDT), headquartered in Minneapolis, is the world’s largest medical device manufacturer with revenues over $16 billion, and is active in many sectors – alleviating pain, restoring health and extending life for millions of people around the world. www.medtronic.com About Capricorn Venture Partners Capricorn Venture Partners is an independent pan-European venture capital and asset manager seeking to invest in technology based growth companies. Capricorn’s dedicated investment teams are composed of experienced investment professionals with deep technology expertise and a broad industrial experience. Capricorn is investing out of its Capricorn Cleantech Fund, its Capricorn Health-tech Fund and is managing Quest for Growth, a cross-over fund quoted on EuroNext Brussels, and the Quest Management Cleantech Sicav. www.capricorn.be About Seventure Partners Seventure Partners in Paris, France, is one of the leading venture capital firms in Europe. Seventure manages €500m and has invested since 1997 in innovative businesses with high growth potential in Information & Communication Technologies and in Life Sciences all over Europe. Seventure is a subsidiary of Natixis, part of BPCE, one of the largest French banks. www.seventure.fr
About Twin City Angels
Twin Cities Angels was established in 2006 to provide a formal organization for entrepreneurially-minded angel-investors in the Minneapolis and St. Paul area. TCA provides seed and early-stage capital in the range of $25,000 to $2 million, an investment range not generally served by venture capitalists. The Twin Cities Angels Fund I, LLC is a contributed capital and “side-by-side” angel fund with members and partners from throughout Minnesota. http://www.tcangels.com/
For additional information
Gemma Gilligan
FTI Consulting
Tel: +353 1 663 3612 / +353 87 9156639
Email: gemma.gilligan@fticonsulting.com
Peter Crosby
Chief Executive Officer
Mainstay Medical Limited
Email: inquiries@mainstay-medical.com