Here's another indication of intense interest in the sector. LifeShirt is one of Stayhealthy's quasi-competitors, and NIMU is (along with CYBR) one of two "pure plays" for those who might want to speculate with a publicly traded "health monitoring company" stock while we wait for Stayhealthy to develop. Offie and I traded NIMU with some success last year.
LifeShirt.com Raises $7.5 Million in Second-Round Financing
LOS ANGELES, Aug 17, 2000 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
CSFB Private Equity Takes the Lead, With Additional Investment
From CyberFund LLC and Hammer Capital Management, Inc.
LifeShirt.com, (http://www.lifeshirt.com), the online vital signs monitoring company that uses a comfortable shirt with embedded sensors to continuously monitor a patient's vital signs, today announced the completion of its second-round financing. CSFB Private Equity led the round. Other investors included CyberFund LLC, Hammer Capital Management, Inc., and both existing and new angel investors. The funding will enable the company to complete its development and testing of the LifeShirt.
"We are very pleased to be an investor in LifeShirt and look forward to helping the company achieve its objectives," said Michael Schmertzler, Managing Director and Co-Head of the U.S. Fund at CSFB Private Equity. "We actively seek to invest capital in early-stage health care related companies that exhibit a specific set of characteristics - strong intellectual property, demonstrated product viability, large market opportunity and strong, experienced management - all of which are present at LifeShirt."
LifeShirt.com is an e-health company. Its first product, the LifeShirt, is a comfortable garment with embedded sensors that was invented by Dr. Marvin Sackner, the company's medical director and CEO of Non-Invasive Monitoring Systems (NIMU - OTC). The LifeShirt continuously monitors and records more than 40 cardiac and respiratory signs during work, play or sleep. The encrypted data is then uploaded for analysis and displayed on a secure Web site for physician review.
"CSFB Private Equity's track record with technology companies demonstrates the power of our venture, and local investment from Santa Barbara-based Cyberfund and Hammer Capital Management illustrates how the Southern California technology community is continuing to cultivate outstanding technologies," said Andrew Behar, Chief Operating Officer and Founder, LifeShirt. "It paves the way for us get the LifeShirt into the hands of the people who need it most - for clinical trials to facilitate the development of new medicines and to doctors and their patients."
Recently awarded U.S. patent 6,047,203, "Physiologic Signs Feedback System" joined a portfolio of ten monitoring technology and software patents assigned to LifeShirt.com, Inc., from Non Invasive Monitoring Systems. The underlying technology is currently used in more than 1,000 hospitals worldwide including the Mayo Clinic, Johns Hopkins University Hospital and Los Angeles Children's Hospital and has been cited in more than 1,400 peer-reviewed scientific papers.
About CSFB Private Equity
CSFB Private Equity, investing since 1979, is the global private equity arm of the Credit Suisse Group, a global financial services company. CSFB Private Equity has committed capital of approximately $3.7 billion and has completed more than 80 investments worldwide. The firm maintains offices in New York, London, Hong Kong, Sao Paulo and Moscow.
About LifeShirt.com
LifeShirt.com was established in 1999 and is headquartered in Ojai, California. The LifeShirt monitoring system was invented by Marvin Sackner, M.D., CEO of Non Invasive Monitoring Systems (NIMU - OTC), to allow physicians and clinical researchers to closely monitor patients outside of medical facilities during their normal day-to-day routine. With the use of the Internet and new technologies for communication, the LifeShirt is expected to facilitate the clinical development of breakthrough pharmaceutical products, optimize physicians' time, lower costs and improve the quality of healthcare.
Contact:
Connors Communications
Virginia Ginsburg, 310/452-7540
virginia@connors.com |
