Covidien and Group of VC Firms to Invest in Start-Up

A medical device firm and a group of venture capital companies are investing in a new Ireland-based start-up.

Covidien plc, Lightstone Ventures and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) will jointly invest in a new company launched by The Foundry, a medical device incubator.

The new company, which is called FIRE1 and is based in Dublin, Ireland, will focus on developing novel therapeutic devices. Series A funding will provide the company with the resources to develop and commercialize technology. Specific market plans and financing terms were not disclosed.

As part of today’s announcement, FIRE1 also expanded its board of directors to include: Ryan Drant, general partner, NEA; Stacy Enxing Seng, president of Covidien’s Vascular Therapies business; and Jason Lettmann, partner, Lightstone Ventures. They will join Hanson Gifford and Mark Deem, managing partners of The Foundry, on the FIRE1 board.

Deem is serving as chief executive of the new company.

“Broadening our innovation focus is a key component of Covidien’s strategy, and we believe this partnership can help us to bring inspired, clinically relevant and cost-effective new treatment options to market,” said Enxing Seng. “Partnering early with key venture firms and The Foundry gives us unique insight into some of the most innovative, early stage technologies.”

“FIRE1 will be our first company created in Ireland, a region that has evolved into one of the leading clusters for medical devices globally,” said Deem. “We are excited to be collaborating with Covidien as well as our venture partners, Lightstone and NEA to launch this first-of-its-kind company.”

The Foundry was founded in 1998 to turn the concepts into successful new medical device companies. In addition to inventing new technologies itself, The Foundry works closely with outside clinicians and inventors with promising ideas. Over the past 15 years, the group has formed more than 15 new companies, including Ardian (acquired by Medtronic Inc.), Cabochon Aesthetics Inc., Cierra (acquired by Terumo Medical Corp.), Concentric Medical (acquired by Stryker Corp.), Emphasys Medical Inc., Evalve (acquired by Abbott Laboratories), First to File (acquired by Mark Monitor), Holaira, Miramar Labs, Satiety, XTENT and the ophthalmic company incubator Forsight Labs. The Foundry is located in Menlo Park, Calif.

Lightstone Ventures was founded in 2012 by the Life-Science Partners of Advanced Technology Ventures and Morgenthaler Ventures to focus on novel breakthrough medical devices and biopharmaceuticals. Lightstone has offices in Palo Alto, Calif.; Boulder, Colo.; and Boston, Mass.

New Enterprise Associates invests in information technology and healthcare companies at all stages in a company’s lifecycle, from seed stage through initial public offering. In the U.S., NEA has offices in Menlo Park, Calif.; New York, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.; Boston, Mass.; and the Washington, D.C., area. The group also has offices in India and China.

Covidien manufactures a range of medical device and supply products. The company has 2013 revenue of $10.2 billion.