Covidien (NYSE:COV) said it participated in the Series A round for stealthy Irish medical device startup Fire1.

Dublin-based Fire1 is developing "novel therapeutic devices" to "address certain unmet medical needs," according to a press release. No further information on its focus or on the details of the funding round were provided, although Covidien vascular therapies president Stacy Enxing Seng will serve on the Fire1 board, suggesting that the startup might play in the vascular space.

Lightstone Ventures and New Enterprise Associates also participated in the round, according to a press release.

Fire1 is being launched by The Foundry, the Menlo Park, Calif.-based medical device incubator that’s spun out a raft of medtech firms including Ardian (acquired for $800 million in 2010 by Medtronic (NYSE:MDT)); Concentric Medical (for which Stryker (NYSE:SYK) paid $135 million in 2010); and Evalve (acquired by Abbott (NYSE:ABT) for $410 million in 2009).

Ryan Drant of NEA and Jason Lettmann of Lightstone Ventures will join Enxing Seng and The Foundry’s Hanson Gifford on Fire1’s board, Covidien said. Mark Deem, a managing partner at The Foundry, will serve as Fire1 CEO, according to the release.

"Fire1 will be our first company created in Ireland, a region that has evolved into one of the leading clusters for medical devices globally," Deem said in prepared remarks. "We are excited to be collaborating with Covidien as well as our venture partners, Lightstone and NEA, to launch this 1st-of-its-kind company."

"Broadening our innovation focus is a key component of Covidien’s strategy, and we believe this partnership can help us to bring inspired, clinically relevant and cost-effective new treatment options to market," Enxing Seng added. "Partnering early with key venture firms and The Foundry gives us unique insight into some of the most innovative, early stage technologies."