Palliare has closed an oversubscribed USD8 million Series A funding round led by leading European Life Sciences Venture Capital firm Seroba Life Sciences, with participation from Luxembourg-based SCM AD Ventures, Western Development Commission, and several private investors.
The funds will be used to support US commercial launch activities related to Palliare’s EVA15 insufflator and smoke evacuation system, as well as new Research & Development activities.
There has been growing awareness of the hazardous nature of surgical smoke to the operating room staff, and various medical organisations in USA have been lobbying for the safe evacuation of all surgical smoke. The Covid-19 pandemic further heightened awareness across the clinical community of the exposure of medical staff to aerosolised viruses in the operating room. In 2021 alone, nine US states have introduced smoke evacuation bills, and more are anticipated in the coming months.
With the close of the Series A round, Jennifer McMahon, Principal at Seroba, will join the board. McMahon says: “We are delighted to back the experienced Palliare team who have identified the clinical need for a user-friendly continuous pressure insufflator. We recognise the growing trend towards minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery and the demand to create a cleaner and safer operating room for patients and clinical staff alike.”
Gillian Buckley, Investment Manager with the Western Development Commission, and current Chair of the Irish Venture Capital Association, says: “We are delighted to continue our investment journey with Palliare, building on the world renowned MedTech sector that exists in the West of Ireland, creating very high value-add jobs and offering better technology solutions to clinicians.”
In further news, the company is pleased to announce the appointment of Julie Tupen as US Vice President of Sales. Julie brings extensive commercial experience to the management team from having previously worked with such companies as Covidien, Invuity, and most recently Hologic.
Commenting on the new appointment, Scott Flora, Chairman, says: “We are delighted to welcome Julie Tupen to head up our US commercial launch of EVA15, a product that offers a compelling value proposition in providing both continuous pressure insufflation and laparoscopic smoke evacuation in a highly compact form at a very competitive price point.”
