Israel and US-based medical device company V-Wave has closed a $28m series B round featuring Johnson & Johnson Innovation, the investment unit of pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson, and medical equipment manufacturer Edwards Lifesciences.
TriVentures, Pura Vida Investments, BRM Capital, BioStar Ventures and Pontifax also participated in the round.
Founded in 2010, V-Wave is working on a minimally invasive device to treat patients suffering from chronic symptomatic heart failure. The company hopes the device, dubbed V-Wave Unidirectional Shunt System, will relieve symptoms and improve quality of life while reducing hospitalisations.
The money will be used for clinical evaluation and development of the device, the recruitment of senior managers, and to scale up the manufacturing process.
V-Wave had previously raised at least $6.5m, including $2m in a 2013 round led by Pontifax that also featured BRM Capital. Edwards Lifesciences also invested in the company before participating in the latest round, but further details have not been disclosed.
Neal Eigler, chief executive of V-Wave said, “With the backing of our new and prior investors, we can now accelerate development and clinical evaluation of a new therapy applicable for a large segment of heart failure patients who need additional treatment options.”