
Fresh from winning regulatory approval for its Esteem hearing device, Envoy Medical Corp. is seeking $16.5 million from the sale of equity, according to documents filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The White Bear Township, Minn.-based has so far raised $330,000.
In March, the Food & Drug Administration cleared Envoy’s Esteem hearing technology, an implantable system that converts mechanical vibrations from the eardrum into electrical signals, boosts and cleans them before converting them back into vibrations it then transmits into the cochlea.
Envoy is embarking on a big push to train surgeons on the technology and convince doctors to recommend it to patients. The company plans to start implanting 100 patients a month beginning in October at a new surgical center it’s building in Houston. Envoy is also recruiting surgeons to train at its headquarters in White Bear Township and a facility in Greensboro, N.C.
Envoy’s all-star roster of investors have long expected the company to go public following FDA clearance of the device. The company boasts Minnesota Timberwolves owner/billionaire Glen Taylor, Roger Lucas of biotech firm Techne Corp. and former Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT) vice chairman Glen Nelson as backers. Former Boston Celtic great Kevin McHale, Spearman’s brother-in-law, also chipped in $400,000.