conducted a randomized trial that enrolled 600 patients in a study that collected data for two years. Today, the company has 13 products including cervical disks, for use in the lower neck and into the back, and lumbar discs, which is used in the lowest portions of the spine.
Its “Easyspine,” is a screw system that provides immobilization and stabilization of spinal segments in patients 12 and older in the treatment of various acute and chronic instabilities of the spine. LDR also sells several spinal “cages,” which come in a variety of heights and angles and are inserted into the space between spinal discs to give patients’ spines stability.
And LDR does have competitors in the spinal device market, including DePuy Synthes Spine, a division of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Medtronic Spine and Biologics (NYSE: MDT), Nuvasive (NasdaqGS: NUVA), Globus Medical (NYSE: GMED), and Stryker (NYSE: SYK), according to the investor website Seeking Alpha.
Lavigne, like his two other co-founders, has a background in mechanical engineering and marketing. The three worked together for several years at a company where they developed, marketed, and sold spinal medical devices in partnership with surgeon-designers.
LDR quickly received permission to sell its devices in Europe and, within four years, was eyeing a broader global expansion, namely the US market. It was during those initial presentations to potential investors that brought the company in front of Austin Ventures, which led to founding the US headquarters in the Texas capital.
Prior to the IPO, LDR raised a total of $62 million through a Series C round last year. Among its investors were PTV Sciences in Austin, Rothschild Private Equity, and Telegraph Hill Partners.
“I had no idea where [Austin] was; I had expected to go to New York or San Francisco,” he says, laughing. “My grandmother said, ‘Don’t come to Texas. They kill French people there.’ ”
But political acrimony has not played a role in the business, Lavigne has found. And he says, as an amateur guitarist, the statue of Stevie Ray Vaughan in Austin’s Zilker Park made the Texas Capital an easy sell for LDR’s US home.
“Austin is not only a great place to live, but there is talent already there,” he says. “We also have the ability to attract people to come here.”
