Portfolio News
Saints Joins Spiration's Investors
VentureWire
Jonathan Matsey
20 January 2009
Medical device maker Spiration Inc. said it has added $900,000 from secondary investor Saints Capital to its Series G round, closing the financing at $19.4 million.
Spiration first raised $18.5 million in the round in March 2008 from insiders, including InterWest Partners, Investor Growth Capital, New Enterprise Associates, New Leaf Venture Partners, Olympus Medical Systems Corp., Three Arch Partners and round lead Versant Ventures.
But one name was missing from that list: Boston Scientific Corp, which had inherited Guidant Corp.'s stake in Spiration when it bought the device giant in 2006. "Boston Scientific was the only early investor that did not participate," said Gregory Sessler, who was recently promoted to chief operating officer from chief financial officer at Spiration.
At the time, Boston Scientific was in the process of divesting its start-up portfolio, which it sold to Saints in June. And although the company was not actively seeking additional funds for the round, Sessler said the company decided to open up a slot for the secondary investor late last year. "Saints said, 'We would have participated in the earlier financing,'" Sessler said.
Saints did not return calls for comment Friday.
Sessler said the Saints investment was on the same undisclosed terms as the original Series G investors.
Saints' interest in Boston Scientific's portfolio comes amid a flurry of activity from firms specializing in buying stakes held by VC firms as the prices for secondary stakes continue to drop.
Two other secondary investors, Adams Street Partners and Industry Ventures, are near to closing new funds, according to VentureWire archives, and Saints itself recently closed $120 million in funds to manage a portfolio acquired from Rustic Canyon Partners and separately took stakes in Facebook Inc. and Zazzle.com Inc.
Based in Redmond, Wash., Spiration launched its IBV Valve System, for patients with emphysema and other lung diseases, in Europe in October. Sessler said a U.S. pivotal trial on the device is ongoing.
The size of Saints' stake in Spiration was not disclosed. The company's largest investors, each holding at least 10%, according to a recent Securities and Exchange Commission filing, are NEA, Olympus, Sprout, Three Arch and Versant.
Spiration has 50 employees.
