White Pine Medical is in the middle of a $57 million investment round that will power its first medical devices fund, according to a regulatory filing.
White Pine is affiliated with Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, a venture powerhouse that was founded in 1985, has raised eight funds and has about $2.5 billion under management. Essex Woodlands pledged to commit “up to” $50 million to White Pine when the latter’s formation was announced last month.
White Pine is led by former CoreValve CEO Dan Lemaitre. Before CoreValve, Lemaitre was a senior vice president with Medtronic Inc. (NYSE:MDT), where he led strategic planning and corporate development and was a member of the company’s executive and operating committees. Medtronic bought Irvine, Calif.-based CoreValve for $700 million last year.
White Pine will focus its investments on late-stage medical device companies in areas such as cardiovascular, orthopedics and neurostimulation. The fund will target companies that will turn a profit within 18 months of acquisition, the Wall Street Journal reported.
So far, White Pine has pulled in $1 million of its planned total, according to the regulatory filing. The rest should follow pretty easily, assuming Essex Woodlands throws in its pledged $50 million.
The first sale in White Pine’s offering happened March 12. The offering is expected to last more than a year, according to the filing.
