Cardiac Dimensions Raises $12M, 6/25/2002
Cardiac Dimensions Raises $12M in Series B Funding from Leading Venture Capital Firms Polaris Venture Partners, InterWest Partners and MPM Capital
Financing will be used to further develop critical implantable devices for congestive heart failure patients
SEATTLE, WA - June 25, 2002 - Cardiac Dimensions, a leading medical device company developing novel interventional tools for the treatment of congestive heart failure ("CHF") and related conditions, today announced that is has secured $12 million in Series B equity financing co-led by Polaris Venture Partners and InterWest Partners, joined by existing investor, MPM Capital. The company plans to use the proceeds from the offering to commercialize implantable devices for Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) patients.
In conjunction with the funding, Michael Sweeney, Venture Partner at InterWest Partners and former CEO of Epicor and Brian Chee, General Partner, Polaris Venture Partners have joined the Board of Directors.
"We are especially pleased to have Polaris Venture Partners and InterWest Partners, two blue chip life science and information technology investment firms join our existing top tier backer, MPM Capital in the support of our company," said Rick Stewart, Cardiac Dimensions, president and CEO. "Cardiac Dimensions has achieved significant technological advances in this important field which should give hope to thousands of congestive heart failure patients and the medical professionals dedicated to their care. We have assembled an outstanding team and are building an extraordinary company."
Congestive heart failure is a chronic disease resulting from the inability of the heart to pump enough blood to meet the demands of the body. CHF is a life-threatening condition afflicting nearly 5 million Americans and is responsible for approximately 2.5 million hospital admissions each year. Given their frail state of health, CHF patients are rarely candidates for conventional surgical procedures that could extend and improve their lives. Cardiac Dimensions is focused on developing minimally invasive, catheter based therapies as an alternative to surgery, thus significantly expanding the pool of CHF patients that can be helped.
"Cardiac Dimensions has a combination of revolutionary implantable device technology and an extremely solid management team which gives it a significant advantage in a rapidly growing market sector," said Polaris General Partner, Brian Chee. "We're confident that they will continue to leverage their expertise in CHF devices to greatly improve the quality of patient care."
"The Company's less invasive technology can expand the treatment of CHF to a much broader patient population, enabling patients to both extend and improve the quality of their lives," said Michael Sweeney of InterWest Partners.
Kurt C. Wheeler, General Partner of MPM Capital added: "We are pleased to have InterWest and Polaris Venture Partners as investment partners in the development of this opportunity. They have strong insight and a great track record of developing early stage biomedical device companies. As the founding investor in Cardiac Dimensions, we are extremely pleased by the company's progress, its management team and the opportunity to make a difference in CHF patients lives."
Cardiac Dimensions was founded by Scout Medical Technologies of Kirkland, WA. The Company's primary products in development are implantable devices designed to aid in the treatment of congestive heart failure (CHF) by reshaping and repairing the mitral valve in the heart. Currently, invasive surgical therapy is the only effective treatment in the management of mitral valve regurgitation.
About Cardiac Dimensions
Cardiac Dimensions, Inc. is a medical device company developing
novel interventional tools for the treatment of congestive heart
failure ("CHF") and related conditions. CHF is a life-threatening
condition afflicting nearly 5 million Americans and responsible
for 2.5 million hospital admissions each year. Given their poor
state of health, CHF patients are rarely candidates for conventional
surgical procedures that could extend and improve their lives. Cardiac
Dimensions is developing minimally invasive therapies as an alternative
to surgery, thus significantly expanding the pool of CHF patients
that can be helped. Cardiac Dimensions, based in Seattle, Washington
was founded in 2001 by Scout Medical Technologies, and is funded
by leading venture capital firms MPM Capital, Polaris Venture Partners
and InterWest Partners.
About Polaris Venture Partners
With $2 billion under management, Polaris Venture Partners is a
venture capital firm with investments across information and medical
technology. Polaris takes an active lead role in its portfolio companies.
The Polaris team is committed to helping entrepreneurs grow strong
businesses by offering both operational and investment expertise.
The firm currently supports more than 50 portfolio companies. Polaris-backed
companies include: Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); Allaire
Corporation; Aspect Medical Systems (NASDAQ: ASPM); Centra Software
(NASDAQ: CTRA); deCODE Genetics (NASDAQ: DCGN); Paradigm Genetics
(NASDAQ: PDGM). Former Polaris-backed companies have included: Advanced
Inhalation Research (AIR) (sold to Alkermes), and Solidworks (sold
to Powersoft). The company has offices in Boston, and Seattle. More
information about Polaris Venture Partners is available at www.polarisventures.com.
About InterWest Partners
InterWest Partners, founded in 1979, is a leading diversified venture
capital firm focused on building long-term relationships with entrepreneurs
and portfolio companies. With $1.6B of capital under management,
InterWest's experienced partners bring together deep domain knowledge
in life-sciences and information technology. InterWest takes a long
term, collaborative approach to venture funding, providing early
stage and ongoing enlightened capital, management coaching and access
to a broad network of resources. Examples of the firm's previous
investments include ArthroCare Corporation, CIENA Corporation, Copper
Mountain Networks, Inc., Corixa, Cor Therapeutics, Coulter Pharmaceutical,
Cubist Pharmaceuticals, Lightera Networks (acquired by Ciena), PercuSurge
(acquired by Medtronic), Silicon Graphics, SiTera, Stratacom (acquired
by Cisco), Ventritex (acquired by St. Jude Medical), and Xilinx,
Inc. InterWest Partners has offices in Menlo Park, California and
Dallas, Texas. For additional information on InterWest Partners,
visit their Web site at www.interwest.com.
About MPM Capital
MPM Capital L.P. is a global asset management firm focused solely
on healthcare investing from early stage start-ups to large capitalization
public companies. MPM Capital has offices in Boston, MA, South San
Francisco, CA and Munich, Germany. MPM's current portfolio consists
of biopharmaceutical and medical device companies and encompasses
platform technology as well as product plays. The firm manages over
$1.8 billion in assets through $1.4 billion in venture capital funds
and $400 million in MPM BioEquities, a fund investing in public
biotechnology companies. These combined funds make MPM Capital one
of the largest asset management firms dedicated to the life sciences
sector. www.mpmcapital.com