Cryotherapy technology company Vessi Medical scores $16.5M and more digital health fundings

Vessi Medical, which offers cryotherapy technology to treat non muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), announced it closed a $16.5 million Series A funding round.

The company offers a cryo spray for hollow and humid organs, which it touts as a new treatment approach to NMIBC, a cancer on the surface of the bladder’s inner lining. 

The Israeli company says its cryotherapy offering is a minimally invasive alternative to transurethral resection of bladder tumor, a surgical first-line therapy in which a surgeon removes the patient’s bladder tumor through their urethra. ​​

ALIVE- Israel HealthTech Fund, Agriline and an undisclosed strategic investor led the Series A investment round.

“We are thrilled to announce the closing of this round, especially during this challenging time,” Vessi Medical founder and CEO Eyal Kochavi said in a statement. 

“The participation of a global strategic investor in this round is a huge show of confidence in Vessi’s achievements and potential. The financing led by ALIVE will support expanding Vessi’s R&D capabilities, clinical studies in Israel and the U.S. and regulatory clearance, enabling us to achieve our goal of bringing Vessi’s treatment for NMIBC to patients and physicians to reduce side effects, improve patient outcomes, and lower health care costs.”

Merit Medicine, a company that offers AI technology to companies that self-fund their employees’ health plans, announced it closed a $2 million seed round led by LiveOak Ventures. 

Merit utilizes AI to help self-funded employers predict budgeting needs based on datasets on patient journeys, assisting employers in gaining insight into the potential for high-cost medical expenditures and specialty drug utilization for rare, chronic, and complex conditions. 

“Self-funded employers are faced with rising healthcare costs and significant financial risk based on the health of their employee base,” Mike Marcantonio, who leads the investment for Live Oak Ventures, said in a statement. “Unfortunately, they have very few tools today to evaluate this risk and plan for it.” 

“When I met the Merit Medicine team, I was inspired by their mission to help employers address this risk by using AI to predict high-cost specialty drug usage and rare, chronic and complex conditions. The team’s domain experience also stood out with experience in drug pricing, market access, and healthcare data analytics.”