BioProtect Announces Initial Closing of Equity Financing

$13 million in funding from Accelmed Ventures, KB Investments, and Consensus Business Group

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Jan 14, 2020, 10:42 ET

TZUR YIGAL, Israel, Jan. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- BioProtect ltd., a private company developing unique bioabsorbable polymer spacer balloons, announced the initial closing of $13 million of its Series D equity financing from a leading global syndicate of venture investors. BioProtect's pipeline of spacing products improve outcomes in radiotherapy and interventional oncology procedures as well as in aesthetics and general surgery.

Major investors leading the round are the family office of Vincent Tchenguiz, chairman of Consensus Business Group, a prominent private equity investor in Israel and the UK with an expanding focus on life sciences who committed $7 million. In addition, leading medtech venture investors Accelmed Ventures II, a healthtech fund managed by Irit Yaniv, M.D. and Amir Blatt, and KB Investments, a major Korea-based financial institution, have together contributed an additional $6 million.

Proceeds of the round will finance the ongoing multicenter FDA clinical trial of BioProtect's lead product, the ProSpace balloon spacer, which protects prostate cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, as well as the expansion of the technology platform.

Every year, more than 1.1 million men are diagnosed with prostate cancer worldwide and approximately 400,000 will undergo prostate radiotherapy. Historically prostate radiation therapy was limited by concerns over risk of rectal toxicity following radiotherapy. Innovation in radiation therapy platforms enabling larger-dose radiation fractions to be delivered in fewer sessions recently received significant validation via new guidelines of the main societies, ASTRO, ASCO, and the AUA.

The ProSpace balloon spacer helps reduction of radiation therapy risks by pushing the prostate away from adjacent organ at risk, the rectum. Once injected with saline the spacer offers physicians a consistent gap of over 1.5cm, is visible under CT. The spacer remains stable during radiation therapy and is gradually absorbed after radition therapy is completed.

BioProtect's future pipeline represents a $4 billion opportunity, with additional applications for cervical cancer radiation therapy, pancreas radiation therapy and during breast radiation therapies. The versatility and physician appeal and adoption of a bioabsorbable polymer balloon spacer was further validated last year when a BioProtect spinout for musculoskeletal applications, Orthospace, was acquired by Stryker for a reported $220M.

Vincent Tchenguiz, Chairman of CBG, commented, "We have been supporting BioProtect for a long time, watching it succeed. We believe its technology offers strong value that would help the market's growth. We also recognize the strength of the platform and are keen to work with the company to continue and grow it "

Dr. Irit Yaniv, Managing Partner, Accelmed Ventures II, said, "Our investment in BioProtect will enable the company to complete the clinical trial of their flagship product towards FDA approval. This is Accelmed Ventures II's second investment and the first in a medical device company and exemplifies our investment strategy in promising medical device companies in clinical trials nearing regulatory approval. We believe that the capital raised together with the fruitful cooperation between BioProtect's management and its investors, places the company on the path to success."

Jong Pil Kim, CEO of KB Investment commented, "BioProtect's cutting-edge technology can greatly impact the prostate cancer patients' quality of life. We strongly believe that BioProtect will be the leading company that will mainly dedicate the expansion of the spacer market. We look forward to working together for the successful partnership and mutual growth"

Gil Rosen, CEO of BioProtect, stated, "We appreciate the vote of confidence by these leading investors. The capital will allow us to focus on our most important mission, obtaining FDA approval. As the radiotherapy market continues to offer shorter, more accurate radiotherapies, BioProtect is on a mission to offer as many cancer patients as possible safer radiation treatment."

About Consensus Business Group

Consensus Business Group ("CBG") is the trading name of a group of companies advised by one of the UK's leading family offices, whose overall portfolio, includes Pharma, biotech, med tech, clean tech, real estate and other business interests. It has a net asset value in excess of £1bn.

CBG's diversified portfolio includes sectors such as Life Sciences, climate change and other technologies. CBG is a LP or GP in multiple healthcare funds including Forbion, BioGeneration Ventures, Accelmed, Peregrine Ventures, Triventures, Capital Nature, JVP, RMGP, IBF, aMoon, Alive, Pontifax and others. CBG is also a leading shareholder and investor in holding companies and platforms, including Hadasit Bio Holdings (HBL), Xenia Venture Capital and Trendlines group

About Accelmed Ventures II
Accelmed Ventures, the VC arm of Accelmed, is focused on building and growing companies that are developing innovative healthtech technologies in the fields of medical devices and digital health. Accelmed Ventures II is a new venture capital fund, that is currently being established as part of the Acclemed group. The fund aims to raise and manage approximately $100 million, for investing in Israeli and global startups in clinical stages or initial stages of market penetration. The fund is managed by Dr. Irit Yaniv and Amir Blatt. For more information, please visit www.accelmed-ventures.com.

About KB Investment Co. Ltd.

KB Investment ("KBI") is a Korean private venture capital investment company that is 100% subsidiary of KB Financial Group (KRX : 105560, NYSE : KB), the leading financial institution in Korea. KBI has been invested in the fields of medical devices, diagnostics, and therapies related to small molecules, biologics, cell therapies, genomics, and hostpials in various disease area to improve quality of life for patients and fill in the unmet medical needs. KB Investment has 900+ portfolios and 150+ IPOs since the establishment. The asset under management exceeds $1.5 billion USD and has more than 40 investment professionals. For more information, please visit www.kbic.co.kr.

RM Global Partners, an investment banking and strategic advisory firm, is acting as BioProtects advisor for the financing.

For additional information:
[email protected]
www.bioprotect.com

SOURCE BioProtect