Avenir Medical Secures Series A Financing

Avenir Medical Inc., a start-up company developing instruments to improve joint replacement surgery, has closed a $3.3 million round of Series A financing.

The firm is based at the Accelerator Centre at the University of Waterloo’s David Johnston Research and Technology Park in Waterloo, Ontario. The round was led by MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund (IAF) of Toronto, Canada, and included a syndicate of angel groups in Waterloo and Toronto, Canada, and in Boston, Mass.

Avenir develops intelligent instruments to assist orthopedic surgeons in the operating room. The company’s devices integrate microelectronics and miniature optical sensors to calculate and display real-time measurements of implant position and alignment, enabling surgeons to more accurately perform joint replacements. The firm’s flagship product is for guiding hip replacement. The same advanced technology will be applied to knee replacement and other surgical procedures, company officials noted.

“We are excited to attract a broad base of investors ranging from MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund to angel groups representing prominent Canadian and U.S. entrepreneurs and surgeons,” said CEO Armen Bakirtzian. “This funding will accelerate our clinical and commercialization plans in North America and Europe where the potential market is over 2 million hip and knee replacements a year.”

Avenir has developed a device called PelvAssist, a miniaturized intelligent instrument—not yet available for sale—that the company claims “enhances surgeon accuracy, increases hospital economic efficiencies, and improves patient outcomes.”

Avenir’s research and development team is led by the co-founder and former director of surgical navigation at Medtronic Inc., and includes a team of orthopedic surgeons: Drs. Allan Gross (chairman of Avenir Medical’s surgical advisory board) and David Backstein from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto; Dr. Wayne Paprosky from Rush Hospital in Chicago, Ill.; and Dr. Javad Parvizi from the Rothman Institute in Philadelphia, Pa.

“In joint replacement, most surgeons use their own impromptu techniques to position and align implants,” said Gross. “However, studies show that post-operatively, up to 10 percent of patients have complications and as many as half of these require expensive revision surgery. Avenir’s new device gives surgeons a simple, reliable, and easy to use tool for implant positioning and alignment that can reduce the outliers and ultimately benefit patients.”

“Avenir really represents the type of company that fits our investment thesis. They have a great product, based on unique, differentiated technology, and have a huge market potential,” said Dan Mathers, investment director, IAF. “Avenir is an example of the type of high-quality companies we are seeing in the Kitchener-Waterloo region, and we will continue to ensure that we focus efforts on being a key investor in the region.”