Today (Wednesday), Veteran Israeli startup V-Wave announced a second closure to its 2018 Series C funding round that saw the company raises $70 million from Deerfield Management, with participation from Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Endeavour Vision, Quark Ventures, BioStar Capital, Triventures, BRM, Edwards Lifesciences, Aperture Venture Partners, PuraVida Ventures, and Israel Secondary Fund. Today, V-Wave adds another $28 million in funding, increasing the Series C total to $98 million.

Bringing hospitalization down

Tens of millions of people around the world suffer from heart failure, which demands frequent trips to the hospital and much suffering. The product developed by V-Wave Medical is actually a small implant that inserted between the heart’s two upper chambers, and regulates the blood flow between them. This results in a significant drop in pressure on the heart, leading to less visits to the hospital, and meaning higher quality of life for patients.

V-Wave Chairman Dr. Frank Litvack added, "With more than 26 million patients suffering HF globally and more than 6 million in the US, there is a huge unmet clinical and economic need for simple, cost effective new therapies. Advanced heart failure has a prognosis worse than many cancers and is one of the leading drivers of hospital expenditures both domestically and abroad. We are excited about RELIEVE-HF and to seeing our final data once the trial is completed."

V-Wave was founded in 2009 by Dr. Gadi Keren, who’s also registered on the company’s patent, Ya’akov Nitzan, and Dr. Asher Smolowitz. The company is run by CEO Dr. Neal Eigler, President Erez Rozenfeld, and Chairman Dr. Frank Litvack. The company has offices in Israel and the U.S. Along with the current raised funds, V-Wave has raised a total of $133 million to-date.

V-Wave CEO Dr. Neal Eigler MD said that "...we are excited about the early signals related to ease of implantation and procedure safety. With respect to ease of implantation, within the spectrum of structural heart procedures the Ventura Shunt is on the more simple and straightforward side... Feedback on the product from physicians in the registry is very good with respect to ease of use, deployment and reliability."