Navigantis has announced the closing of a US$12 million Series A financing led by Puma Venture Capital, with participation from Cormorant Asset Management and Mirae Asset Capital. All existing Navigantis investors participated in the financing round. In addition, Amit Hazan—founder and managing partner at Puma Venture Capital—will join Navigantis’ board of directors.
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Proceeds from the financing will be used to support the ongoing development and testing of the Vasco robot, with the hope of bringing it into first-in-human clinical trials in neurovascular procedures.
“We are thrilled and fortunate to have the support of such esteemed partner investors who share our vision for revolutionising neurovascular care with robotics,” said Mor Dayan, chief executive officer of Navigantis.
“We are incredibly excited to support the Navigantis team in their mission to further improve stroke care via robotic applications,” Hazan added. “The use of robotics in the neurovascular space also opens the door to expanded access to care via telesurgery, and going beyond fixing blood vessels that are weakened or blocked to use the vascular route for other applications, such as drug delivery and brain implants. All these advancements will ultimately help many neurovascular patients across the globe to live longer and healthier lives.”
As more endovascular procedures requiring fluoroscopy for imaging guidance are performed to treat neurovascular diseases, it has become vitally important to focus on decreasing the radiation exposure. Navigantis notes in a press release that the application of robotics for interventional procedures will greatly reduce this—as well as, potentially, ensuring more patients can receive timely access to stroke interventions.