Dive Brief:
- Cleveland Clinic spinout Centerline Biomedical has raised $33 million in a series B round to expand its procedure visualization technology into new surgical applications.
- Centerline sells a visualization and guidance platform for endovascular procedures. The platform is designed to improve endovascular procedure outcomes and cut radiation exposure.
- Centerline received Food and Drug Administration clearance in 2019, and has now tapped investors to support further expansion.
Dive Insight:
Centerline spun out of Cleveland Clinic in 2014. Working out of the Clinic’s Global Cardiovascular Innovations Center, the startup created a navigation system to address the perceived limitations of X-ray fluoroscopy, such as its reliance on harmful radiation and contrast dye and the quality of the 2D images it produces.
The resulting system, branded IOPS, uses structural mapping and electromagnetic tracking to create 3D images that serve as an adjunct to fluoroscopy. In a preclinical study, the platform reduced procedural time by almost 50%.
Centerline funded its early work using a $1.7 million seed round it raised in 2015, before going on to put together a $10 million financing package in 2020. The latest funding round expands Centerline’s investor syndicate and increases its spending power.
Cleveland Clinic led the series B round with assists from groups including GE Healthcare. The investment from GE has a strategic angle, with the medtech company identifying a chance to work with Centerline to improve its own systems.
“As the number of minimally invasive procedures for complex interventions increases, so does the need for advanced technology to enable clinicians to make faster, more precise and informed decisions to improve patient care. We look forward to working with Centerline Biomedical as well as clinicians to explore the possibilities of this technology, as well as how this can complement our imaging and guiding systems,” Arnaud Marie, general manager for global interventional at GE Healthcare, said in a statement.
Centerline will use the funding to expand into Europe and other international markets next year, as well as to advance the use of its technology in new surgical applications.
