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Insightec raises $150M to expand the therapeutic power of focused ultrasound

Nancy Dahlberg
Nancy Dahlberg
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By Nancy Dahlberg

Insightec, a global healthcare technology company on a mission to revolutionize patient care with focused ultrasound, announced it has raised $150 million in equity financing.

The new round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company and co-led by Nexus Neurotech Ventures and Ally Bridge Group. Support from new investors Baillie Gifford, Catalio Capital Management, Fayez Sarofim & Co., and Gilmartin Capital, along with insiders, led by affiliates of York Global Finance / Community Fund and Perceptive Advisors, generated an oversubscribed round.

Insightec, headquartered in Miami, has developed and commercialized the Exablate Prime platform that focuses on sound waves, safely guided by MRI, to provide tremor treatment to patients with essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. Research for future neuroscience applications is underway in partnership with leading academic and medical institutions.

“This financing provides Insightec with runway to expand incisionless neurosurgery to the many patients suffering from movement disorders and continue to make calculated and strategic investments in new indications,” said Maurice R. Ferré, Insightec’s CEO and chairman of the board and a prominent medical technology pioneer in South Florida.

In an interview with Refresh Miami on Tuesday, Ferré said the investors are best in class, including Fidelity, one of the largest investors in the world, and the team of Nexus, which is which is very strong in the neurodegenerative space.

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Ferré also said he was proud that Insightec is a contributing force in South Florida’s growing medtech and life science sector, which is also one of the most active sectors for venture capital in the Miami metro area.  

“As you know, we talk a lot about crypto, we talk about quantum, but we don’t talk as much about life sciences, and I think we’re starting to see from a computational standpoint that there’s going to be a need to understand diseases with the work around quantum and AI and life sciences and neurosciences,” Ferré said.  “I think we have an opportunity to win in this community. We’re starting to see the pieces come together.”

Maurice R. Ferré, CEO and chairman of Insightec

Insightec has been working with universities in South Florida and statewide, including the University of Florida, Florida International University and Florida Atlantic University. “We’ve been working to really build up collaborations,” said Ferré, adding that The Miami Cancer at Baptist has also been a big Insightec partner.

With over 160 systems installed worldwide, Insightec’s proprietary technology has been used to treat nearly 20,000 patients. It is FDA approved as an incisionless, immediate treatment for patients suffering from essential tremor and Parkinson’s disease. Founded in 1999, Insightec now has about 400 employees, mostly in Israel where the technology was born. In total, Insightec has raised over $800 million, according to Crunchbase.

Insightec’s primary focus is movement disorders, but it has also been working with research partners to build out future programs around addiction and Alzheimer’s. Two Insightec research reports were recently published in journals, and Insightec’s work with guided focused ultrasound was featured on 60 Minutes earlier this year, Ferré said. “The credibility and the science and the clinicals are starting to build conviction.”

Ferré, became Insightec CEO in 2016 and has always run the company from Miami. Ferré is also a founding board member of Endeavor Miami and has been a leader in efforts to grow Miami’s medtech sector.

As an MD and the son of a former Miami mayor, Ferré has a long history in healthcare innovation in Miami and beyond. With Rony Abovitz, Ferré co-founded MAKO Surgical, a transformational robotic surgical company, in 2004. The company went public in 2008 and sold to Stryker Corp. for $1.65 billion in 2013. In addition to Magic Leap, MAKO alums helped start up Dermasensor, of which Ferré is a co-founder, as well as Neocis and Orthosensor locally.  Before MAKO,  Ferré headed Visualization Technology Inc. in Boston. VTI became the world leader in image guided surgery for ENT, cranial and orthopedic procedures and was acquired by GE Healthcare in 2002.

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