The emerging device companies that have been hardest hit by the economic woes of the past couple of years have been those looking for later-stage financing. These companies face venture investors who are either unwilling or unable to invest in late-stage deals, while also confronting an IPO market that largely remains closed to them, particularly in the US. In Europe, however, that may be changing, most notably in France, where Stentys SAS, which is developing stents to treat acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs), recently became the second device company to successfully go public this year. [See Deal] (The other was Carmat SAS, an artificial heart company founded by noted cardiac surgeon Alain Carpentier, MD.) [See Deal]
Gonzague Issenmann, Stentys' CEO, acknowledges that the company's timing has been fortunate, having raised its last round of financing in March 2008, thereby avoiding the challenges presented by the current...