Shaser Inc. and CEO Dan Roth emerged from stealth mode for quick, $3 million boost and an interview with Boston.com before closing the curtains again.
The Woburn, Mass.-based company, which makes a light-based hair removal device that’s already on the market in Europe, drummed up $3 million from Stata Venture Partners in an equity sale March 29, according to a regulatory filing.
Shortly after the funding round, Boston.com’s Scott Kirsner scored a phone interview with Roth, who revealed that the company is looking to make deals similar to the one it inked with Remington (NYSE:SPB), which sells Shaser’s flagship i-LIGHT hair removal system in Europe.
“We’re set up like a software company, to develop new designs and then license them to OEMs [original equipment manufacturers],” Roth told Kirsner, adding that Shaser’s recent $3 million tranche is part of its C Series round and brings the total raised to more than $8 million.
Shaser isn’t the only local firm looking to enter the over-the-counter market for cosmetic devices. Burlington, Mass.-based Palomar Medical Technologies Inc. (NSDQ:PMTI) won 510(k) approval from the Food & Drug Administration last summer for a light-based anti-wrinkle device it developed along with Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ). But JNJ spiked that deal last October, citing "unfavorable economic conditions." Palomar is moving ahead with its plans for the device without the conglomerate’s help, albeit at a lesser scale than planned.
“The current economic climate does not warrant a large scale investment in a mass-market launch at this time,” Palomar CEO Joseph Caruso said at the time. “Therefore, we have adjusted our launch plans to be more in line with current economic conditions. In the short-term, our goal is to establish our consumer products in the market using certain specialty channels and gather the valuable information needed to fully execute our long-term strategy of a full mass market launch.”