From left: Leo Casey, BGF and Kevin Kelleher, Ostoform. Image: Chris Bellew /Fennell Photography.
Irish growth capital investor BGF selected medtech Ostoform as its ninth Irish equity investment.
Westmeath-based medtech company Ostoform has secured a €3m private equity funding round led by growth capital investor BGF.
The company manufactures medical seals for use with patients who have received a colostomy, ileostomy or urostomy.
The latest investment means Ostoform now has almost €6m in total funds to support its future growth and development. The company was already awarded a grant of €2.7m via the Disruptive Technologies Innovation Fund earlier this year.
This is one of several investments from BGF in an Irish tech company. In August, it joined a €3m funding round for Ambisense, an IoT environmental monitoring spin-out from Dublin City University. In February, it invested €6m in Dublin-based medical device business Vasorum, which specialises in devices used to close arterial punctures in vascular, cardiology, radiology and neuroradiology procedures.
As an investor, BGF takes minority positions in growing businesses to support and facilitate growth plans. In Ireland, the company is supported by the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF), AIB, Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank.
Ostoform’s latest funding boost was also supported by Enterprise Ireland, as well as existing investors such as HBAN MedTech, which first invested in Ostoform as the company spun out of the University of Limerick in 2018.
Kevin Kelleher, CEO of Ostoform, commented: “This is a landmark equity raise for us, which will enable us to capitalise on growing international opportunities for our existing and pipeline products.”
Mark Sykes, investor at BGF, hailed the company as “a great example of Irish innovation in the medtech sphere”, adding that the company’s product pipeline had the potential to “significantly improve” the daily qualify of life for ostomy patients. As part of the transaction, Sykes will join the board of Ostoform.
Leo Casey, head of BGF in Ireland, said that despite the disruption caused by Covid-19 the investment firm continued to see “a very strong pipeline of companies” interested in availing of its support.
“This is our third investment this year and the ninth equity investment we have made in Ireland in less than three years and we expect to close further transactions in the coming weeks,” Casey said.
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