Venture capital funds Pitango Venture Capital and Giza Venture Capital led the round. It was managed by investment bank TopNotch Capital, Israel Seed Partners and Platinum and Neuron Venture Capital were involved in the round, as was the venture arm of U.S. drug giant Johnson & Johnson.
Using TopSpin's MRI catheter during cardiac catheterization will enable the interventional cardiologist to guide therapy to vulnerable plaques and to potentially reduce cardiac event rates - the world's leading cause of death.
The capital raised by TopSpin will allow it to begin human clinical trials in the first half of 2003, receive marketing clearance in Europe and in the US and start marketing its products at the beginning of 2004".
"Considerable efforts are being made by the industry to identify vulnerable plaques", said Pitango vice-president Nissim Darvish. "We believe that the MRI technology developed by TopSpin is most promising". Investors included Polaris Venture Capital in the Lead Pitango Venture Capital, Giza Venture Capital, Israel Seed Partners, Johnson & Johnson, Peregrine Systems, Platinum Group
Israeli startup TopSpin Medical a developer of innovative medical imaging technology, closed the largest round of fundraising in the medical device sector in 2002, bringing in $16.5 million in a second round effort.