SpineGuard raises $4 million to complete $15 first round

Funding

Medical device start-up SpineGuard has raised $4 million from the Irish venture capital firm Delta Partners to complete a first round funding totalling $15 million. The balance of the round came from Crédit Agricole Private Equity, Innoven Partenaires, and A Plus Finance.

SpineGuard was set up earlier this year by co-founders Pierre Jérôme and Stéphane Bette, former executives at Medtronic Sofamor-Danek and SpineVision respectively. The company’s primary objective is to establish its FDA-cleared and CE Marked PediGuard device as the standard of care for safer pedicle screw placement in spine surgery.

“This additional funding will fortify our efforts to establish PediGuard as a standard of care for safer spine surgery,” said Jérôme, CEO of SpineGuard. “Our novel device is progressively emerging as a compelling solution to the widespread clinical need for safer pedicle screw placement.”

“I am delighted that SpineGuard is fully funded” said Ciarán Bolger, developer of PediGuard. “I believe that PediGuard will become a standard of care. I am very pleased to have developed a device that significantly enhances patient safety and also protects and assists surgeons."

Nearly one million spine procedures using pedicle screws were performed last year. According to published studies, pedicle screws show rates of misplacements as high as 40 per cent, which can lead to a number of serious complications for patients, including quadriplegia. Consequently, liability risks for spine surgeons are high.