In Life Sciences news,
ClearCount Medical Solutions received $3.4 million in Series B financing and the
Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse closed on $725,000 in direct investment in five startups.
ClearCount, makers of RFID-tagged surgical sponges, will continue to focus on sales with the hiring a national sales team and a software engineer, says David Palmer, president and CEO. The round was led by
Draper Triangle Ventures and Midwestern-based Network Partner of Draper Fisher Jurvetson. ClearCount's received $4.1 million from Draper Triangle last October.
PLSG invested in five companies in the 3rd Quarter of 2009:
• $200,000 in NeuroInterventions, Inc. to support prototyping a family of catheters for deep vein thrombosis, carotid stenting, traumatic brain injury and stroke patients.
• $150,000 in Blue Belt Technologies to support preparation of their robotic handheld surgical tool for the FDA process and prepare for a full market release.
• $150,000 in Vytrace Inc., formerly Glucose Sensing Technologies, to support development of a catheter that allows clinicians to continually monitor blood glucose levels in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) setting.
• $125,000 in ThermalTherapeutic Systems to develop a hyperthermic perfusion technology, a portable device to heat and circulate warm, sterile fluids during medical procedures.
• $100,000 in Almedtrac to assist with the marketing of software for clinical trials management.
"This widely recognizes the fact that life sciences may be as close to recession proof as you can get," says John Manzetti, PLSG president and CEO. "It's a growing field. The need for health care is not going down."
In addition, two prominent executives have joined the PLSG Executives in Resident Program, Dave Mawhinney and Stephen A. Bollinger. PLSG has moved 31 executives through the EIR program since its inception, 20 of who remain in the region in senior executive positions.
Writer:
Debra Diamond SmitSource: John Manzetti and Lynn Banaszak Brusco, PLSG