U-Mass helps medical device firms raise $5 million | Funding roundup

Four medical device startups from a University of Massachusetts incubation program have drummed up $5.1 million from investors.

The companies, MoMelan, TheraTorr, MedicaMetrix and Aura Medsystems, were all supported by the Mass. Medical Device Development Center, also known as M2D2, which operates out of UMass Lowell and UMass Worcester.

The companies were also recipients of $500,000 "FastLane" awards, an M2D2 program that helps startups bridge the duration between their founding and when they can start pitching venture capitalists. The FastLane program is funded by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative’s John Adams Innovation Institute.

"The FastLane funding along with the other support and business expertise that M2D2 provides are vital components for these early-stage companies and entrepreneurs," M2D2 associate director and UMass Lowell College of Management professor Steven Tello said in a statement.

The investors and individual amounts invested per company was not disclosed. Emails to each company were not returned.

Here’s a roundup of the latest dealflow and investment news:

• Thermo Fisher Scientific Prices Offering of Senior Notes
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• Wright Medical Commences Tender Offer for Its 2.625% Convertible Senior Notes Due 2014 and Announces $350 Million Amended and Restated Credit Facility
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• Rosetta to Raise $6.0 Million in Concurrent Private Placement and Registered Direct Offerings
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• Thoratec Authorizes $100 Million Share Repurchase Program
  Thoratec Corp. (NSDQ:THOR), a world leader in device-based mechanical circulatory support therapies to save, support and restore failing hearts, announced that its Board of Directors has authorized the repurchase of up to $100 million of the company’s shares of common stock over the next year.
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• Ivivi Health Sciences Secures Series A Financing to Accelerate Commercialization of FDA-Cleared Electrotherapeutic Device, the Ivivi Torino II
  Ivivi Health Sciences LLC, a leading innovator in the development and commercialization of portable electrotherapy devices for post-operative indications, has secured $9.5 million in the initial close of its Series A Preferred financing. The initial closing of the financing provides Ivivi with $4.0 million of new investment and converts a $5.5 million bridge loan to equity. A second tranche of $4.0 million is expected within the next 90 days. Proceeds from the Series A financing will be used by Ivivi Health Sciences and its newly formed subsidiary Ivivi Orthopedic Health, Inc. to accelerate commercialization of Ivivi’s non-invasive and proprietary FDA-cleared electrotherapy devices for reduction of post-surgical pain and edema in orthopedic specialties. Proceeds will also be used to expand clinical development in additional musculoskeletal diseases, including osteoarthritis of the knee.
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