Route 92 Medical Attracts $50 Million in Equity Financing

Route 92 Medical Inc. has secured a new $50 million extension to its previously announced oversubscribed Series F financing, bringing the total raised to $82 million. Supporting the latest financing round was Novo Holdings as well as returning supporters U.S. Venture Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, InnovaHealth Partners, and The Vertical Group.

“Our company is focused on improving outcomes for patients suffering from acute ischemic stroke, and we are continuing to build our commercial and support teams to bring our Tenzing, FreeClimb, HiPoint, and Monopoint products to the market,” Route 92 Medical Founder/CEO Tony Chou said. “Novo Holdings’ investment validates our clinical and commercial performance and will help us better serve patients and our interventionalist customers.”

Proceeds from the financing will be used to accelerate the global commercialization of Route 92 Medical’s neurovascular intervention portfolio, and to pursue regulatory authorizations in new geographies. The company has streamlined neurovascular intervention by creating a suite of reperfusion and access systems leveraging unique designs, all featuring the patented Tenzing delivery catheter. These products are designed to work harmoniously as complete systems to improve the efficiency of endovascular thrombectomy procedures, enabling clinicians to quickly restore blood flow to a patient’s brain following acute ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke currently affecting patients.

In connection with the investment, Novo Holdings Growth Investments Partner Noel Jee is joining Route 92 Medical’s Board of Directors. Jee has more than 10 years of experience in life science investing and consulting. “Stroke is an acute event and the difference between life and death is often determined by ease of access and rapid removal of the entire clot. Route 92 Medical’s reperfusion systems provide practice-changing, much-needed innovation for clinicians and patients,” Jee stated. “We look forward to supporting Route 92 Medical’s management team in their efforts to improve care for patients.”
 
The company’s neurovascular portfolio includes the FreeClimb 70 reperfusion system featuring the FreeClimb 70 aspiration catheter and the Tenzing 7 delivery catheter and the FreeClimb 54 reperfusion system comprising the FreeClimb 54 aspiration catheter paired with a Tenzing 5 delivery catheter and the FreeClimb 88 catheter system comprising the FreeClimb 88 catheter and Tenzing 8 delivery catheter. In addition, the company has completed enrollment in its SUMMIT MAX clinical trial, which is evaluating the safety and effectiveness of the HiPoint 88 and HiPoint 70 reperfusion catheters as part of the Monopoint reperfusion system.
 
Route 92 Medical aims to improve outcomes for patients undergoing neurovascular intervention through cutting-edge engineering and innovative product design. Founded by physicians, the company collaborates with neurovascular clinicians to solve the biggest challenges in neurointervention and deliver meaningful, differentiated solutions that promote clinical success. 
 
Novo Holdings is a holding and investment company that manages the assets and wealth of the Novo Nordisk Foundation. Wholly owned by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novo Holdings is the controlling shareholder of Novo Nordisk A/S and Novonesis A/S and manages an investment portfolio with a long-term return perspective. Novo Holdings is a life sciences investor; through its Seed, Venture, Growth, Principal Investments, Planetary Health Investments and Asia teams, Novo Holdings invests directly in life science companies at all stages of development. In addition, it manages a broad portfolio of Capital Investments, including equities, bonds, fixed income, real estate, and infrastructure assets. As of year-end 2023, Novo Holdings had €149 billion in total assets.