Surgical device maker Minimally Invasive Devices has raised more than $1.5 million in equity, according to a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The company will use the funding to launch several new products, including a next-generation version of its FloShield, which stops liquid from gathering at the tip of and obstructing the view of a laparoscope, CEO Wayne Poll said.
Minimally Invasive Devices (MID) also plans to launch an access system for the FloShield and a liquid cleaning solution that can be used with the product, Poll said. He hopes to receive regulatory approval to begin selling the FloShield in the European Union around the middle of 2011.
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Poll got the idea for his company while in the operating rooms at Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, which is part of the OhioHealth system. A specialist in minimally invasive procedures, particularly kidney cancer, Poll was frustrated that he needed to clear the tip of the laparoscope that guided him as he worked.
Earlier this year, MID signed a distribution deal with San Diego-based CareFusion for the FloShield. MID is shopping for a European distributor, though CareFusion may win that job, too, Poll said.
MID employs one sales support worker, and the latest investment will fund the hiring of another, Poll said. The company has 10 employees.
Last year, the company raised $1.35 million in investment funding that Poll said would be used to start work on a kidney stone removal tool. However, MID has pulled back from those plans to focus on laparoscopic surgery products. Poll said that focusing on MID’s core business will make it more attractive to an acquirer.
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The latest funding round was open only to existing investors. Poll is targeting $2 million for the current round. MID has raised about $7 million since its inception in 2007.
In the past, MID has received funding from several sources, including Cincinnati’s Queen City Angels, Columbus’ Ohio TechAngels, as well as Charter Life Sciences and Reservoir Venture Partners. MID is probably the most successful graduate of OhioHealth’s commercialization and technology transfer program.
Some Queen City Angels (QCA) members contributed follow-on investments in MID’s latest round, QCA Chairman Tony Shipley said.
