US-based orthopaedics company Small Bone Innovations (SBi) secured a credit facility on Wednesday worth $43m, supplied by New Health Capital Partners Fund, the venture capital (VC) fund backed by financial services firm the Orix Corporation.
Prior to the securing of credit from New Health, SBi had raised more than $243m in venture funding from a pool of investors including optics electronics manufacturer Olympus and financial services firm Goldman Sachs, with the most recent funding coming from a $12m series F round in December 2010.
Additional investors include VC firm Axiom Venture Partners, private equity group 3i, VC fund NGN Capital, healthcare investment firm Trevi Health Capital, Khazanah Nasional Berhad, which acts as the investment arm of the Malaysian government, and merchant banking firm Viscogliosi Bros., who formed SBi in 2005.
The loan will be used firstly to pay off a previous credit facility, and then to accelerate sales of SBi’s ankle replacement technology, primarily by building up SBi’s sales organisation.
Richard Baxter, managing director of New Health, said: "We have been monitoring SBi’s performance closely since its inception and have been impressed by what the company has achieved thus far, especially in light of the extremely weak global economy and corresponding slowdown in global orthopaedic device revenue growth. We are excited to partner with SBi and are confident that the STAR ankle will realize its full potential by changing the standard of care from fusion to total ankle replacement."