Neurostimulation company Checkpoint Surgical has raised a $1.7 million series B round of investment and expects to win European regulatory approval of its intraoperative device shortly.
The Cleveland-area company will use the new funding to boost its U.S. sales and marketing staff, CEO Len Cosentino said.
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Checkpoint received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance to sell its device in late 2009. The company expects to receive the European equivalent, the CE Mark, within a few months.
The company’s handheld, disposable device, called the Checkpoint Stimulator/Locator, stimulates motor nerves so surgeons can avoid damaging them during surgery. The device also helps physicians gauge nerve and muscle health. It’s used primarily by orthopedic; plastic; and ear, nose and throat surgeons.
Checkpoint’s series B round was led by its primary investor, the NDI Healthcare Fund. NDI also runs a neurotechnology incubator that helped start Checkpoint and is best known for the $42 million sale of a urinary incontinence-treating product to Medtronic in 2008.
As a result of the new funding, Checkpoint now has six sales representatives in the field. The company has more than 50 hospital customers and posted strong revenue growth of about 250 percent last year, Cosentino said.
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Also on Checkpoint’s priority list: a second version of the Stimulator/Locator that could be used arthroscopically. The second device would essentially do the same thing as the first, but would be designed for use in less-invasive surgeries.
The arthroscopic device is still in development, but Cosentino hopes to begin clinical testing of it sometime this year. A 510(k) submission could follow in 2013.
