A B.C. medical device company specializing in helping out heartbeats is keeping capital flowing through its corporate system.
Burnaby-based Kardium Inc. revealed Tuesday it has raised US$104 million in a financing round led by Fidelity Management & Research Company LLC.
This follows another nine-figure financing round back in 2021 that delivered US$115 million to the company coffers.
Kardium is best known for its Globe Mapping and Ablation System, which aims to treat atrial fibrillation (an irregular heartbeat) more efficiently.
“Their [investors] enthusiasm and support reflect the incredible success we have achieved with the Globe System and the tremendous potential we have to dramatically improve the treatment of atrial fibrillation for millions of patients worldwide," Kardium CEO Kevin Chaplin said in a statement.
Kardium’s flagship device, about one metre long, has a handle at one end to control it and a catheter with an array of electrodes at the other end.
The catheter is inserted into the femoral vein via a needle in the patient’s groin area, and the device’s electrodes travel up to the heart.
The electrodes map the heart’s activity and then burn tissue inside to create scarring, stopping bad electric signals and returning the heart to its normal rhythm.
Current systems feature one electrode. But Kardium’s has 122 electrodes, which can reduce the process from about four hours to about one hour.
The flagship product got the nod from European regulators in 2020. Because of the device’s complexity, Chaplin and a small team had to travel to Germany just months into the pandemic to assist with training doctors and nurses of the newly certified system.
North American clinical trials began in 2022 at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver.
“For our employees it feels really tangible that we’re using it on our home turf,” Chaplin told BIV that same year.
“The fact that we have it now in Vancouver, it’s going to allow our engineers and clinical team just easier access to working with physicians and doctors without having to travel internationally to see clinical use of the system.”
Manufacturing is done in Burnaby.
The company said the new funding will go towards clinical studies, growing its manufacturing capacity and hiring more workers.
The raise also included follow-on participation by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates, Inc. and T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc. as well as new investor Durable Capital Partners LP.
‑With files from Tyler Orton
