Obesity Surgery Company Secures $18.5 Million in Capital

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NewHope Bariatrics announces that it has received $18.5 million in debt and equity financing from three institutional investors, Austin Ventures, Versant Ventures, and Square 1 Bank. The company will use these funds to develop and operate ambulatory surgery centers focused on the treatment of obesity using the Lap-Band® system.

Founded in 2005 by David Crane and Dennis Kelly, former senior executives at MedCath Corporation, NewHope Bariatrics will own and operate these centers in partnership with leading bariatric surgeons in markets across the United States. In anticipation of this new financing, the company has been working diligently with several physician groups and expects to announce its first partnerships in the coming weeks.

”We are gratified that diligent investors at this level think so highly of both our strategy to create centers of excellence and the extensive industry experience of the management team we have assembled,” said David Crane, NewHope Bariatrics president and CEO. “This financing affords NewHope Bariatrics the opportunity to bring to the U.S. market our new vision of healthcare and the latest technologies that promise a new hope for those suffering from obesity.”

“In speaking with physician groups, we have been very pleased with the enthusiastic response to our business model and market approach,” said Dennis Kelly, NewHope Bariatrics chief operating officer. “With our doctors as partners, we are now well on our way to realizing the NewHope vision.”

Navigant Capital Advisors, LLC, the NASD broker dealer subsidiary of Navigant Consulting, Inc., served as the company’s placement agent and exclusive financial advisor. “We rarely get involved with early stage ventures. However, we were impressed with the NewHope Bariatrics’ executive management team and business model,” said Gerry Benjamin, managing director and head of investment banking at Navigant Capital Advisors. “We believe NewHope Bariatrics will quickly emerge as the partner of choice for bariatric surgeons seeking an effective business partner.”

NewHope Bariatrics develops and operates ambulatory surgery centers and short-stay surgical hospitals that serve the needs of the morbidly obese. The NewHope Bariatrics centers focus on gastric banding procedures (primarily the Lap-Band® system).

Source: NewHope Bariatrics