MIAMI, June 26, 2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- TissueTech, Inc., the pioneer in regenerative medicine utilizing human umbilical cord and amniotic membrane, today announced the closing of an $82.25 million round of Preferred C equity financing led by EW Healthcare Partners (formerly Essex Woodlands) and followed by the third round of continuous investments from Ballast Point Ventures.
The funds will primarily be used to pursue regulatory approvals from the FDA for several of its development projects to comply with the agency's new guidance documents and support ongoing commercial development. Investments will be made to transform technical operations to Good Manufacturing Practice to produce biologics products. A part of the funds will be used to liquidate a previous preferred investor and recapitalize some common shareholdings.
As part of the transaction, Martin Sutter, Managing Director and Co-Founder of EW, and William "Bill" A. Hawkins, III, Senior Advisor at EW and former Chairman and CEO of Medtronic, have joined TissueTech's Board of Directors. Matt Rice, who is a partner of Ballast Point Ventures healthcare practice, will continue to serve as a Board member, and John Arnott, an accomplished global healthcare executive, will continue to serve as an independent member of the Board.
"TissueTech, and its wholly owned subsidiaries Amniox Medical, Inc. and Bio-Tissue, Inc., have pioneered the research, development and clinical application of umbilical cord and amniotic membrane technology for use in the ophthalmology, optometry, musculoskeletal and wound care markets," Sutter said. "We have followed TissueTech's impressive growth over the past few years and are proud to now be able to partner with them as they look to further scale up and transform from a tissue-based manufacturer to a biologics therapy provider. We're excited about the significant opportunities ahead for the company."
"The closing of this round of equity financing provides us with additional resources not only for research and clinical trials supporting product development but also to strengthen our commercial efforts," said Amy Tseng, founder and Chief Executive Officer for TissueTech. "We've seen great results to-date with our clinical studies. I am very pleased to have an opportunity to partner with EW and Ballast Point, firms with great expertise in the field of regenerative therapies. I look forward to working with Marty Sutter and Bill Hawkins and am greatly appreciative of Matt Rice and John Arnott's continuing endorsement of our mission to help build TissueTech into a world-class regenerative biologics company in the coming years."
TissueTech's portfolio of currently available commercial products are designed to provide better surgical and therapeutic outcomes for ocular surface injury and disease, chronic and complex wounds, orthopedics, sports medicine, spine, urology, gynecology, plastic and general surgery. The company's Bio-Tissue portfolio of products contains the only cryopreserved amniotic membrane that has been designated by the FDA as anti-scarring, anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic on the ocular surface. Clinicians have performed more than 500,000 human implants with the company's products and more than 300 peer-reviewed studies supporting its platform technology have been published.
About TissueTech, Inc.
TissueTech, Inc., the parent company of Amniox Medical, Inc. and BioTissue, Inc., pioneered the development and clinical application of human placental tissue-based products. Founded in 1997, Bio-Tissue markets products for the ophthalmology and optometry markets; and Amniox markets products for use in the musculoskeletal and wound care markets. Clinicians have performed more than 500,000 human implants with the company's products and published more than 300 peer-reviewed studies supporting its technology platform. The Company's first product, AmnioGraft®, is the only tissue graft designated by the FDA as homologous use for promoting ophthalmic wound healing. Learn more at http://www.tissuetech.com.
About EW Healthcare Partners
With over $3.0 billion under management, EW Healthcare Partners is one of the largest and oldest growth equity firms pursuing investments in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, healthcare services, and healthcare information technology. Since its founding in 1985, EW Healthcare Partners has maintained its singular commitment to the healthcare industry and has been involved in the founding, investing and/or management of over 150 healthcare companies, ranging across sectors, stages and geographies. The team is comprised of over 20 senior investment professionals with offices in Palo Alto, Houston, New York, and London. For more information, see http://www.ewhealthcare.com.
About Ballast Point Ventures
Ballast Point Ventures, headquartered in Tampa, Florida, is a later-stage venture capital and growth equity fund founded in 2002 to provide expansion capital for rapidly growing, privately owned companies, with a particular emphasis on companies located in Florida, the Southeast and Texas. The BPV partners have more than 80 years of combined experience investing in and building high-growth companies in several industries, including healthcare, software, technology-enabled business services and consumer. BPV has $360 million under management across three funds and seeks to make initial equity investments ranging in size from $4 million to $10 million. For more information, visit http://www.ballastpointventures.com.
SOURCE TissueTech
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