Inceptus Medical LLC, an Aliso Viejo-based incubator focused on creating and growing medical device companies, raised $4.7 million for its Inari Medical Inc..
Proceeds are expected to help Inari develop and commercialize its devices to treat cardiovascular disease.
Versant Ventures joined U.S. Venture Partners in Menlo Park to lead the Series A round for Inari.
Versant is a healthcare-focused venture capital firm with $1.6 billion in assets under management and more than 75 companies in its portfolio.
Don Milder, a managing director in Versant’s Newport Beach office, and Kirk Nielsen, who last year became head of the firm’s recently launched Minneapolis office, will join Inari’s board of directors.
U.S. Venture General Partner Jonathan Root also will serve on the Inari board.
They have been part of the Inceptus board since 2011, when the incubator was formed by a trio of medical device industry veterans—Robert Rosenbluth, Brian Cox and Paul Lubock—with an aim to provide startups with various resources, such as engineering and research expertise, and financial support.
“We got involved with the incubator because we believed there would be opportunities that we would want to support,” said Milder, a medical device entrepreneur and investor who has worked with Rosenbluth and Lubock since the 1980s. “So far, so good. We’re supporting the first company, and we expect to continue to support them. We’re a participant in the process with the Inceptus team. If they have some ideas in an area that we’re not interested in, we share that, and they’re free to continue with that if they want. We’ve worked together for over 20 years, and I think we tend to think alike.”
Inceptus works on internal ideas and also is “receptive to ideas from other entrepreneurs who need help in building a company,” Cox said.
The cofounders are currently overseeing management and development for Inari and expect to hire executives to run it, according to Cox.
“We’ll continue to work on other projects,” he said. “We have several projects going on right now, and another company will form in the next six to 12 months.”
Rosenbluth and Cox have founded and led two other businesses backed by Versant and U.S. Venture.
MicroVention, Sequent
They started MicroVention Inc. in the late 1990s and built it into a manufacturer of technologies to help treat vascular diseases in small vessels. Tokyo-based medical device maker Terumo Corp. acquired MicroVention in 2006.
Tustin-based MicroVention now operates manufacturing and administrative facilities in Santa Ana, Aliso Viejo and Costa Rica.
Rosenbluth and Cox also were behind Sequent Medical Inc., which makes devices to treat aneurysms. Rosenbluth was chief executive since the company started in 2007 to 2010 and remains as chairman. Cox, who was chief technical officer at Sequent, currently serves as a part-time vice president.
“Sequent is still private, [and] it’s doing well,” Cox said. “It’s been successful in actively raising money.”
Aliso Viejo-based Sequent has raised more than $41 million so far, with the latest round bringing in $26 million last year. It has 50 employees.
“Its [products] are being sold in Europe, and it’s pursuing U.S. approval,” Cox said. “It’s nice to create a company and see it grow and be part of the Orange County medical device community.”