Planatome, a medical device company that applies atomic-level polishing from the semiconductor industry to create advanced surgical blades, has closed its $5 million Series A equity investment round. The company has also secured an additional $1 million convertible venture debt commitment.
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Planatome will use the funds to hire top-level commercial talent for its cutting-edge products, expand manufacturing capacity, and create new business lines by deploying its proprietary polishing technology to a variety of surgical cutting instruments.
David Husband, Planatome’s chief financial officer, said: "Our momentum is building, and this funding will fuel market activation by enabling us to reach more surgeons, as well as more rapidly expand additional product design efforts. During the early COVID lockdowns, with virtually all surgical procedures cancelled or delayed, we utilised the time to further refine our blade design for the benefit of surgeons as well as patients. Now, with this investment in hand, great surgeon feedback and the healthcare industry back to normal, we are well prepared for rapid growth.”
Tim Tobin, Planatome’s chief executive officer, added: “Our technology is elegant in its simplicity. For medical and non-medical persons alike, it has remarkable, widespread appeal since it is so highly intuitive – we’ve removed jagged features that saw through tissue, which produces a much-improved healing response. This is a pivotal stage in our company’s evolution as we expand Planatome’s reach and introduce additional highly refined products that will set new standards of patient care on a global basis and push the boundaries of what’s possible.”
Planatome’s patented surface modification technology is based on chemical mechanical planarization, a process used to planarize silicon wafers in advanced chip manufacturing. When applied in the medical field, this dramatically improves the surface smoothness of surgical blades by a factor of 1,000 or more. These blades have proven to be a low-trauma, high-precision surgical tool. Data has shown that surgeons who use Planatome blades see less soft tissue damage at the incision, less closing resistance, cleaner margins, and fewer complications. Their patients experience less inflammation, less pain, and faster healing with less scarring. The blades have approval for use in the United States and South Korea and have recently been approved for use by several hospitals and surgicentres.
The company will leverage its technology for other medical device applications, including surgical scissors, laparoscopic tools, and robotic end effectors.
