Industrial and chemicals conglomerate Koch Industries has agreed to invest $100m in InSightec, an Israel-based developer of an ultrasound surgery system for Parkinson’s disease, as part of a $150m series F round.
The corporate has committed the capital through its Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT) subsidiary pending shareholder approval. The series F round will be sized at up to $150m and will value InSightec at $1.3bn post-money.
InSightec has created an incisionless brain surgery device called Exablate Neuro that relies on magnetic resonance-guided ultrasound waves to treat essential tremor resistant to medication, and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease.
The system targets high-intensity ultrasound waves through the skull at the area of the brain thought to be responsible for causing tremors. Exablate Neuro has received regulatory approval in the US for the treatment of the two aforementioned conditions.
The company was founded in 1999 to commercialise technology licensed from industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE) and diversified holding group Elbit Imaging.
InSightec has allocated the series F proceeds to further research into treating essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease, as well as other disorders in partnership with a range of academic and medical institutions.
The company had previously received more than $305m in funding including $150m in a series E round led by KDT in 2017.
Elbit Imaging, GE subsidiary GE Healthcare, York Capital, Focus Holdings, GEOC and MediTech Advisors were listed as shareholders at the time of the series E round without confirming their participation in that transaction.
InSightec had closed an $81m series D round the year before, raising the money from GE Healthcare, Elbit Imaging, York Capital Management, GEOC and MediTech.
GE Healthcare had led a $30.9m series C round for the company in 2012. It had already contributed to a $30m round in 2007 together with MediTech and Elbit, the latter of which also supplied $15m in funding in 2009.
