Things appear to be heating up at Avedro. The Waltham, MA-based startup, which is developing a system that uses thermal energy to correct vision, has raised $4.6 million out of a proposed $5 million in an equity, debt, and rights financing, according to an SEC filing.
David Muller, the CEO of Avedro, said in an e-mail this morning that the deal is a bridge financing and that all of the firm’s previous investors participated. The company’s investors include Borealis Ventures of New Hampshire, Silicon Valley’s De Novo Ventures, Echelon Ventures of Waltham, Cambridge, MA-based Flagship Ventures, and Prism Venture Partners in Needham, MA. The new money will be used for general corporate purposes, according to Muller.
Muller is one of the people who helped pioneer Lasik eye surgery in the 1990s. Unlike Lasik, Avedro’s system does not require surgical incisions in the eye. The company’s procedure, which uses thermal energy to temporarily flatten the cornea to treat myopia and bulging of the cornea, garnered European marketing clearance earlier this year, the company said in April. The original technology was developed at Dartmouth College.
Last June, Muller talked about Avedro’s plans to gain marketing clearance in Europe (which apparently went well) before seeking approval from the FDA in the U.S.
