- The financing will enable acceleration of commercialization for Kestra’s best- in-class wearable defibrillator
- Raymond W. Cohen, CEO of Axonics, has been appointed as independent board member
Kestra Medical is an American company also present in Ireland, which has developed and commercializes a medical device: a vest equipped with a portable defibrillator for patients at risk of sudden cardiac arrest.
The $196 million financing of Kestra was co-led by Andera Partners, Ally Bridge Group, Longitude Capital and Omega Funds with participation from new investors, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., Eventide Asset Management and Gilmartin Capital. Long standing Kestra investors Bain Capital and Endeavour Vision also participated with significant contributions.
“We are impressed with the clinical performance of the Kestra wearable defibrillator product and are keen to partner with their passionate and experienced management team”, said Aneta Sottil, Partner at Andera Partners. “We are also thrilled that Raymond W. Cohen, a venture advisor to Andera, has agreed to join the board of the company as an independent director, where we expect that he can bring invaluable expertise to a company in early commercialization stage, in a product category that Ray knows very well”.
Raymond W. Cohen joins the board of directors of Kestra as a new independent board member. Mr. Cohen is a seasoned and accredited public company director with over 40 years of experience in the life sciences industry. He currently serves as CEO and board member of Irvine, CA-based Axonics Inc. (Nasdaq: AXNX), a global medtech company he co-founded in late 2013 and took public in October 2018. Earlier this year, Axonics agreed to be acquired by Boston Scientific for $3.7 billion. Axonics topped the 2021 Deloitte Technology Fast 500 and the 2022 Financial Times ranking of the 500 fastest-growing companies in the Americas. Prior to his tenure at Axonics, Mr Cohen was CEO of Vessix Vascular sold to Boston Scientific in 2012. Prior to that, Mr. Cohen spent nearly a decade as Chairman and CEO of Nasdaq-listed Cardiac Science Inc., a company that developed and commercialized automatic external cardiac defibrillators, which was ranked as the fourth fastest-growing company in the U.S. in 2004.
Mr. Cohen has worked with the Andera Life Sciences team since 2011 when he was CEO of Vessix Vascular, a company for which Andera led its financing before its acquisition by Boston Scientific. Andera subsequently was the lead investor in the Series A of Axonics in 2014 and participated in all further private fundraisings and in the company’s IPO. Raphaël Wisniewski, Partner at Andera, served as Chairman of Axonics until the company’s debut on the Nasdaq. Mr. Cohen also serves on the board of Andera portfolio company SoniVie Ltd., a clinical-stage company developing a device for treating hypertension. Previously, Mr. Cohen also served on the board of another Andera portfolio company, JenaValve GmbH, a transcatheter aortic valve replacement company, which announced its acquisition by Edwards Lifesciences earlier this week.
Raymond W. Cohen commented, “Kestra has a world-class wearable defibrillator product and is poised to compete aggressively with Zoll Medical, a company that, until recently, has enjoyed a monopoly in this market segment with annual revenue estimated in the $1 billion range.” He added, “I am happy to continue my long-standing collaboration with Andera Partners, and to join the board of Kestra, their new portfolio company. I look forward to sharing my experience with Kestra and supporting its team as they strive to reach their goal of market leadership in the WCD arena.”