Aviir, a US-based heart disease monitoring company backed by local drugs maker Merck’s corporate venturing unit, has closed on a second tranche of $10m after meeting a revenue milestone and added Partners & Partners as an investor.
In December 2011, Aviir said it would raise up to $30m led by local drugs maker Merck’s Global Health Innovation corporate venturing fund.
Merck and its consortium of venture capital firms, Bay City Capital, Aberdare Ventures, and New Leaf Venture Partners, said they would invest $10m initially with up to $20m if performance is good.
Aviir said the final investment of $10m would again be based on continued commercial metrics.
The three VC firms had previously provided more than $9.3m to the company spun out of research by Stanford University in 2005.
Inverness Advisors, a division of Kema Partners, acted as exclusive placement agent and Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth acted as legal counsel to Aviir.