ElastiMed Off to a Strong Start With $1 Million Investment

Funds will be used to complete R&D, to proceed with regulatory filings, and to commence clinical trials.

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Sep 24, 2015, 06:00 ET

MISGAV, Israel, September 24, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

ElastiMed, a portfolio company of Trendlines Medical, announced this week that it raised $1 million, which includes an investment from Pix Vine Capital, a Singapore-based investment house.

ElastiMed is developing an effective wearable device using smart materials to treat Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI) and to prevent Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT).

CVI is a condition that affects 40% of the adults in the United States, whereby the veins cannot pump enough blood back to the heart, causing blood to "pool" or collect in the veins. Symptoms include pain, swelling, ulcers, lymphedema, varicose veins, and spider veins. DVT, one of the most common causes of CVI, is responsible for 600,000 hospitalizations per year in the U.S. and is one of the leading causes for preventable deaths.

Wearing compression stockings is a proven and effective treatment that works by exerting pressure on the lower limbs. The stocking reduces the diameter of distended veins and causes an increase in venous blood flow velocity and valve effectiveness. However, current compression therapy devices are inconvenient and difficult to apply, causing patients' non-compliance to reach 60%.

ElastiMed utilizes innovative, smart material technology in the development of an easy-to-wear stocking, which is expected to significantly improve patient compliance.

Omer Zelka, CEO of ElastiMed, commented: "We are extremely pleased with the interest that our technology has generated. The venture capital investment at this early stage is a testimony to the investors' confidence in our team and in the business potential that this technology holds."

Eran Feldhay M.D., CEO of Trendlines Medical, added: "For a company just starting off, this is an amazing achievement. I am confident that in the near future we will see ElastiMed's technology implemented in the treatment of CVI to provide a solution for the many patients worldwide who suffer from this condition."

Patrick De Silva, Chief Investment Partner of Pix Vine Capital, said: "We are excited to support the potential commercialization of a simple but effective wearable device based on smart material technology, to treat CVI and to prevent DVT."

The Trendlines Group (http://www.trendlines.com) is an innovation commercialization company that discovers, invests in, and incubates innovation-based medical and agricultural technologies to fulfill its mission to improve the human condition. As intensely hands-on investors, Trendlines is involved in all aspects of its portfolio companies from technology development to business building.

Pix Vine Capital (http://www.PixVC.com) is a Singapore-based Investment House providing early-stage venture capital to startups aspiring to commercialize innovative solutions in the areas of Info-Tech, Med-Tech and Fin-Tech. PixVC has had Israeli technologies as a focus since 2007, establishing itself as a player within the startup-investments ecosystem in Israel. With Singapore as its home base, PixVC invests in the Asian region, having taken stakes in startups in Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand, India, China, Malaysia and Singapore.