Fluid Biomed closes $27-million USD Series A to fund expanded human clinical studies
Summary
Calgary-based medical device startup Fluid Biomed has secured $27 million USD in Series A funding to fuel the development of its innovative stent for brain aneurysms.Founded in 2012 by a pair of academic neurosurgeons who are also University of Calgary professors, CEO Dr. John Wong and president and CTO Dr. Alim Mitha, the pre-revenue, clinical-stage medtech startup is building what Wong claims is the worlds first bioabsorbable stent for the brain.As clinicians, we came up with the concept, Wong told BetaKit in an interview. The startup plans to use this Series A funding to validate the device in more expanded human clinical studies.The all-equity, all-primary round closed last month. It was co-led by Canadas Amplitude Ventures and an undisclosed major strategic investor from the medical space that Wong declined to name to BetaKit, but claimed offers a pathway forward to commercialization.Fellow new backers LifeArc Ventures, out of the United Kingdom, and United States (US)-based IAG Capital Partners also participated, alongside existing US investors ShangBay Capital and METIS Innovative. The startups stent is designed to be installed through a blood vessel in the groin during an in-hospital procedure guided by X-ray using tiny tubes and catheters.RELATED: Belgian VC Theodorus relocates to Canada under new name to target early-stage life sciences startupsThe Series A round brings Fluid Biomeds total funding to $32.5 million, a figure that includes $4.7 million in seed funding from mid-2021. The startup views this funding as a way to help it reach a larger, pivotal-type studythe kind that would be required by regulators.Our focus now is validating it in rigorous pre-clinical studies to get to the larger patient trials, Mitha told BetaKit.Amplitude, which had been tracking Fluid Biomed for years, was excited by the companys recent progress and the interest it had garnered from strategic players.We have a mix of everything, Amplitude Ventures co-founder and partner Jean-Francois Pariseau told BetaKit in an interview.