Accelmed Launches Accelmed Ventures II, a New $100 Million Venture HealthTech Fund

HERZLIYA, Israel, Oct. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Accelmed, a group of funds investing in healthtech companies in the fields of medical device and digital health, announced today that it is establishing Accelmed Ventures II, a new venture capital fund with the goal of raising and managing approximately $100 million. The fund, which will be managed by Dr. Irit Yaniv and Amir Blatt, both partners at Accelmed, will invest in Israeli and global pre-revenue healthtech startups, including medical devices and digital health. Dr. Uri Geiger, Founder and Managing Partner at Accelmed, will head the investment committee of the new fund, which has already received a commitment from an anchor investor, Consensus Business Group Ltd. led by the British businessman Vincent Tchenguiz. This is the fourth fund established by the Accelmed group, which currently manages over $300 million through Accelmed Ventures and the private equity fund, Accelmed Partners.

The new fund is being launched in parallel to the fruition of portfolio companies in Accelmed Ventures I, the Group's current venture capital fund, which was established in 2011 by Uri Geiger and Mori Arkin together with Migdal Group. Accelmed accomplished several exits to date, the most recent being that of Eximo Medical, its portfolio company based in Rehovot, Israel, which was purchased by AngioDynamics Inc. (NASDAQ: ANGO), for $66 million ($46 million upfront and $20 pursuant to achieving milestones). Eximo was established by Accelmed in 2012, under the Targeted Innovation model framework, and Dr. Irit Yaniv acted as active chairperson of the company. The FDA-cleared B-Laser system developed by Eximo performs laser catheterization for the treatment of blood vessel occlusions with initial revenues in Europe and the US.

Another portfolio company, Endospan, from Herzliya, Israel, that develops and markets Nexus, a graft-based stent system for the treatment of arterial aneurysms using catheterization as an alternative for surgery, has recently signed an acquisition option agreement with US based CryoLife Inc. (NYSE: CRY), for up to $450 million, pursuant to receiving FDA approval in the US. Under the agreement, CryoLife purchased marketing rights of the system in Europe, where it already received CE clearance.

"In recent years there is increased global demand for breakthrough technological healthcare solutions, due to increasing expenditure, estimated at trillions of dollars in the US alone, pronounced population aging and an increased prevalence of cancer and chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and heart disease," said Dr. Irit Yaniv, Managing Partner, Accelmed Ventures II. "In the decade since its inception, Accelmed transformed into a dominant player in its ability to identify, develop and commercialize groundbreaking technologies and solutions in the medical device space, due to the knowledge, expertise and varied experience of its managing team in addition to its network of leading players in the industry. The deals which we have recently reported attest to this, and to the significant need in expanding our activity to a new VC fund, which will address the current lack of finance in medical devices in particular and in digital health, as well as the increased interest of medical device giants in acquiring novel solutions in advanced development stages, nearing regulatory approval and commercialization. We are already in the advanced stages of evaluating investments in several companies."

Amir Blatt, Accelmed Ventures II Partner, stated, "Accelmed Ventures II's investment strategy in medical devices will focus on companies in advanced clinical trials, nearing FDA approval, and after first-in-human trials. In digital health, the fund will focus on companies in initial commercialization stages in the US, be it with hospitals or insurers. Aligned with the Group's investment strategy, we will continue to act as dominant investors, including leading investment rounds ourselves or alongside other Israeli and global funds in the healthtech field, with involvement in the companies' Boards of Directors, in order to lead them towards achieving their development and commercialization goals. The average investment in a company is planned to be approximately $8-10 million per company, including follow-up investments."

Dr. Irit Yaniv is a respected senior executive in the medical device industry in Israel and acted as CEO of several startup companies. Irit joined Accelmed in 2013, where she has been leading early-stage investments and innovation since 2016. Irit was a partner entrepreneur in some of the portfolio companies, including Digma Medical and NitiNotes, and is acting as an active Chairperson in number of the portfolio companies. In addition, Irit is part of the Steering Committee of MIXiii BioMed and ICI, the annual conferences of the Israeli biomed and medical device industry. Irit holds an MD from Ben-Gurion University and an MBA from the School of Business Management in the Tel Aviv University.

Amir Blatt holds extensive experience in the fields of investments and healthtech. Amir joined Accelmed in 2010, a year after its inception, and was highly involved in the development of the fund, initially as an investment manager and later as a partner in the most recent fund. Amir led both Venture Capital and Private Equity investments and serves as a board member of portfolio companies in Israel and the US. Before joining Accelmed he worked in investment banking, as well as sales of medical devices to hospitals. Amir received his B.Sc. in biotechnology and food engineering from the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and an MBA, specializing in financing from the Tel Aviv University.

About Accelmed
Accelmed is a US/Israel-based group of funds managing over $300 million for investment in healthtech companies in the fields of medical device and digital health. Accelmed Ventures, the VC arm of Accelmed, is focused on building and growing companies that are developing innovative healthtech technologies for unmet medical needs in areas such as diabetes, heart diseases, oncology and obesity. Accelmed Partners focuses on value creation through establishing global medical device companies by merging commercial platforms with small innovative growth companies. Since its inception in 2009 by Dr. Uri Geiger, Founder and Managing Partner and Mori Arkin, the fund has invested in approximately 20 healthtech companies, out of which several have been acquired. Accelmed is based in Herzliya, Israel and New York. For more information, please visit www.accelmed.com.

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