Ablative Solutions secures $77 million in largest known VC deal in Michigan

Ablative Solutions secures $77 million in largest known VC deal in Michigan
Ablative Solutions CEO Tim Fishcell, seen here participating in a 2016 executive roundtable hosted by MiBiz.

KALAMAZOO — Ablative Solutions Inc. secured $77 million in financing that ranks as the largest known venture capital deal ever in Michigan.

Netherlands-based Gilde Healthcare, which has an office on Boston, led the Series D financing round in Kalamazoo-based Ablative Solutions, which developed a catheter system to treat uncontrollable hypertension by deactivating nerves in renal arteries.

Petoskey-based BioStar Ventures, Michigan Accelerator Fund 1 in Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo-based Novus Biotechnology Fund 1 co-led the VC round, which includes an unnamed strategic investor and several individual investors. The funding will take the company through late-stage clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe to prove the effectiveness of the treatment.

“We have been supported the past few years by an amazing team of clinicians who, along with our very hard-working team, are committed to making this treatment available to patients,” said Dr. Tim Fischell, CEO and chief medical officer at Ablative Solutions. “We are excited to have the support of this thoughtful and high-powered group of investors, which will allow the company to complete the studies required to seek regulatory approvals in Europe and in the United States.”

The previous largest known VC deals in Michigan were for $70 million in October 2017 for Duo Security Inc. in Ann Arbor, which last September announced a sale to Cisco Systems Inc. for $2.35 billion, and $62 million in January 2016 for Ann Arbor-based Millendo Therapeutics Inc.

Ablative Solutions’ Peregrine System Kit targets nerves that influence the body’s regulation of blood pressure. Through a minimally invasive procedure, the kit delivers dehydrated alcohol in small doses directly to a space outside of the renal artery to block the overactive signaling of the sympathetic nerves.

“BioStar Ventures focuses on transformational health care investments, and we believe Ablative Solutions fits that model perfectly. We are enthusiastic about the company’s innovative approach to treating high blood pressure, a serious condition that impacts more than one billion people worldwide,” Dr. Michael Fulton, senior managing director of BioStar Ventures, stated. “Ablative Solutions’ patented technology enables a streamlined procedure that has the potential to become an important adjunctive therapy to improve difficult-to-control blood pressure.”