HighLife, a France-based cardiac transcatheter technology developer backed by medical device producer LivaNova, has raised €32m ($36.3m) in series B funding.
Venture capital firm US Venture Partners and private equity firm Andera Partners co-led the round, which included VC firm Sofinnova Partners, investment firm Sectoral Asset Management and HighLife chairman Jose Calle Gordo.
Founded in 2010, HighLife has created a mitral valve replacement system to treat mitral regurgitation, a heart condition caused by one of the valves in the heart leaking blood toward the lungs instead of supplying organs with oxygenated blood.
The company’s technology includes a valve prosthesis and a ring-shaped implant meant to help surgeons operate on patients.
Proceeds from the series B round will be used to support the company’s regulatory approval trials in Europe and clinical trials in the US. It came after HighLife closed a $14.3m funding round led by Sofinnova Partners and backed by LivaNova and HighLife CEO and founder Georg Börtlein in late 2017.
LivaNova subsidiary Sorin Group had previously backed HighLife with a $6m investment in 2013 that included an option to buy the business.