Surgical suture co NeatStitch files for IPO

Xenia CEO Anat Segal told "Globes", "When we began development with the NIH, the company's needs changed and it now has a dream which needs funding."

Surgical suture developer NeatStitch Ltd. has filed a draft prospectus with the Israel Securities Authority for an IPO on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).

Neatstitch is a portfolio company of Xenia Venture Capital Ltd. (TASE:XENA), which owns 27.6% of the company.

Neatstitch's company value for its last financing round was $12.5 million. The company value (before money)for the offering will reportedly be about the same. The company plans to raise a few million dollars. Xenia has invested NIS 6.6 million in the company to date.

NeatStitch has developed NeatClose, an automated port closure device for laparoscopic surgery, which replaces the need for manual sutures by the surgeon. The company says that its method is safer and faster that current methods.

NeatStitch is marketing the NeatClose in Europe and the US for suturing after laparoscopic procedures (minimally invasive procedures that do not involve an incision across the abdomen).

The company is developing a second product for cardiology procedures together with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Xenia CEO Anat Segal told "Globes", "The demand for NeatStitch to hold an IPO came from the market. When we began development with the NIH, the company's needs changed and it now has a dream which needs funding."

Segal added, "We waited for the product to have repeat sales. That is the stage at which we think a medical device company is ready for an IPO."

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 4, 2011

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011

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