White Pine Medical to raise $57M for medical devices fund

White Pine Medical is in the midst of a $57 million equity fundraise that will power its first medical devices fund, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

White Pine is affiliated with Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, a venture powerhouse that was founded in 1985, has raised eight funds and has about $2.5 billion under management. Essex Woodlands pledged to commit “up to” $50 million to White Pine when the latter’s formation was announced last month.

White Pine is led by Dan Lemaitre, former chief executive of CoreValve, an Irvine, Calif., cardiovascular device firm that was acquired for $700 million by Medtronic last year. Before CoreValve, Lemaitre was a senior vice president with Medtronic, where he led strategic planning and corporate development and was a member of the company’s executive and operating committees.

White Pine will focus its investments on late-stage medical device companies in areas such as cardiovascular, orthopedics and neurostimulation. The fund will target companies that will turn a profit within 18 months of acquisition, the Wall Street Journal reported.

So far, White Pine has pulled in $1 million of its planned total, according to the regulatory filing. The rest should follow pretty easily, assuming Essex Woodlands throws in its pledged $50 million.

The first sale in White Pine’s offering happened on March 12. The offering is expected to last more than a year, according to the regulatory document.

Essex Woodlands invests in pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, devices, health services and managed care. Several of its device portfolio companies hail from Minnesota, including ATS Medical and Entellus Medical.