Enable Injections plans to triple its workforce as a result of $30 million in funding lined up by the Cincinnati health care company.
The firm was founded in 2010 and now employs about 50, but it intends to add 100 workers by the end of 2018 as a result of the Series A funding.
“It is some serious money,” said Mike Hooven, founder and CEO of Enable Injections, which makes a disposable mobile device that allows patients to self-inject prescription drugs with the touch of a button. “This funding will get us to commercialization. We’re very excited about that.”
The early round of funding is one of the largest investments in a Cincinnati company ever made by venture capitalists.
A key role was played by CincyTech, a public-private partnership that invests in Southwest Ohio startups.
“Thirty million dollars is certainly one of the biggest A rounds for devices that I know of in history,” said Hooven, whose two previous startups were Enable Medical Corp. and AtriCure Inc. (Nasdaq: ATRC), a Mason-based medical device maker that specializes in treating atrial fibrillation.
The Series A round for Enable Injections was led by the Hong Kong-based ORI Healthcare Fund, a venture capital group founded by Simone Song, a former investment banker and head of China health care at Goldman Sachs. Her team consists mostly of former Goldman Sachs bankers and health care scientists.
“It is very fulfilling to invest in Enable’s technology, which brings value to all key stakeholders in the health care world – patients, providers and payers,” Song said in a statement issued today. “For delivering high-volume biologics, Enable Injections is the pioneer that can change the standard of care.”
Also participating in the funding round was Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, where researchers conceived the technology that Enable Injections is developing. Other participants included Cintrifuse and the Columbus-based Ohio Innovation Fund, a venture of Ohio State University and Ohio University.
The device could be used to inject a large dose of a drug to combat anything from cancer to hemophilia. It might eliminate the need for long and more expensive intravenous treatments at a doctor’s office.
