SAN DIEGO, Oct. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Starlight Cardiovascular announced today that it has closed the first $9.48M in an $11.45M Series A financing, which will be used to progress development of its portfolio of pediatric interventional cardiology devices. The financing is led by Bird B and included conversion of previously-issued notes.
“Congenital Heart Defects are the most common birth defects and the leading cause of infant mortality in the developed world,” stated Dr. Pedro del Nido, Chairman of Cardiac Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital and Starlight Co-Founder. “Clinicians are in desperate need of less invasive and more efficacious treatments, like those provided by Starlight.”
Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) affects approximately 1% of babies born each year, and the annual cost of pediatric CHD hospitalizations in the US alone is upwards of $6B.1 Treatment often requires open chest surgery on newborns, which can result in prolonged recovery times and long-term developmental delays.2 Most interventional cardiology tools that are used to treat babies are designed for adults and used off-label, requiring physicians to modify the devices ad hoc and leading to increased re-interventions and morbidity. Starlight Cardiovascular is developing a portfolio of minimally-invasive devices to address the heterogenous clinical needs in pediatric CHD. Its first product, a Ductus Arteriosus Stent, replaces a life-saving open chest surgery with a microcatheter-based procedure performed through a small incision in the skin. “This is an amazing development for Congenital Heart Disease. This stent will help eliminate an open heart procedure for newborns, add a level of safety to the procedure for our infants, and bring a needed technology to more catheterization laboratories and patients,” commented Dr. Lynn Peng, Director, Cardiac Catheterization, Pediatric Cardiology, Stanford University.