Israeli medical device company InterCure, which is pioneering the breathing-based treatment of cardiovascular diseases, has raised $3 million in a first closing of its series C round of fundraising. The round was led by Nikko antfactory, the venture capital arm of Nikko Cordial Securities (TSE: 8603), Japan's third largest investment bank, together with Japanese venture capital firm Nippon Venture Capital (NVCC).
InterCure president and CEO Erez Gavish, son of InterCure co-founder and chief scientific officer Dr. Benjamin Gavish, said this was Nikko Cordial's first investment in an Israeli company.
Existing investors Medica Venture Partners, Yaacov Shachar, Dr. Arie Ovadia and Dr. Benjamin Gavish, one of the company's two founders, also participated in the round. Other investors in the company include New York-based True-North-Palladin Partners, United Mizrahi Bank, and Daniel Plotkin, the company's chairman.
InterCure said it intended this round to be its final private financing round. It plans an initial public offering by the end of next year.
According to Erez Gavish, Credit Suisse First Boston Japan has proposed to the company that it should consider an initial public offering in about six months' time at a value of $250 million.
InterCure has developed the breathing-based RESPeRATE To Lower Blood Pressure device, which it claims is the only non-drug hypertension treatment device clinically proven to lower high blood pressure. The device has been cleared for marketing in the US, by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and in Europe and other markets.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on April 13, 2005