A Minnesota medical technology company that's developing a non-invasive device to destroy cancerous tissue has raised $100 million.
Plymouth, Minnesota-based HistoSonics Inc. announced Tuesday that it raised $85 million of the funds in a convertible-note form of financing, in a post-Series C round led by Johnson & Johnson Innovation. The form of short-term debt will convert to equity in a Series D round, CEO and president Mike Blue said in an interview.
Existing investors also participated in the funding round, including Venture Investors, which has offices in Madison and Milwaukee; Lumira Ventures; Yonjin Venture; the State of Wisconsin Investment Board (SWIB) and others, the announcement said.
Madison-based SWIB oversees retirement trust funds, state funds and money from Wisconsin municipalities, sometimes investing the money to gain returns and increase value. SWIB and Venture Investors participated HistoSonics' Series C $40 million capital raise in 2020.
HistoSonics said it secured a committed additional $15 million under an existing debt facility with Signature Bank.
The funding will go toward supporting HistoSonics' anticipated commercial launch of its device, called Edison, by the second half of 2023, developing more applications for the device and undergoing additional clinical trials.
Funds will also be used to expand its current 30,000-square-foot facility in Plymouth and another in Ann Arbor, Mich., Blue said.
Founded in 2009, HistoSonics has raised just over $200 million to date, Blue said, with a vast majority of such funds raised in the last three years.
The company utilizes histotripsy, an image-guided therapy that uses sonic waves to destroy body tissue. Its Edison device uses pulsed sound energy to eliminate cancerous tumors at a sub-cellular level, according to its website.
HistoSonics recently submitted the technology to the FDA with the hope of entering the market by 2023, Blue said. For use by radiologists and surgeons, the Edison has a price tag of $1 million.
"These financings are an extraordinary vote of confidence in our team, as well as the novel platform and solution we have developed to transform experiences for patients and physicians who deal with the many challenges associated with significant disease, starting in the liver,” Blue said in a statement.
The company has about 70 full-time employees, half of whom are based out of Plymouth and the other half based out of Ann Arbor. The executive team is based in Plymouth, Blue said.
As part of the fundraising announcement, the company also said Erica Rogers, president and CEO of Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Silk Road Medical Inc. (Nasdaq: SILK), has been appointed to HistoSonics’ board of directors. She led the medical device company’s transition from a startup to becoming a public company, the announcement said.
