Novira Therapeutics has completed a Series A financing after securing $7.5 million from new investor Versant Ventures. This brings the total raised from all investors in the round to $25 million. Versant joins 5AM Ventures and Canaan Partners, which led the first closing of the Series A in August 2012.

Teleflex, a provider of medical devices for critical care and surgery, has acquired Hotspur Technologies. Hotspur Technologies, based in Mountain View, CA, is a developer of innovative, catheter-based technologies aimed at restoring blood flow for patients with obstructed vessels. Prior to the acquisition by Teleflex, Hotspur was privately held. Investors included ONSET Ventures, Finistere Ventures, [...]

Life sciences and biotech VCs don’t have it easy–and Versant Ventures, with a lengthy track record, is out to buck the trend and raise a big new fund, peHUB has learned.

Benvenue Medical, a developer of minimally invasive solutions for spine repair, has appointed two new members to its board of directors. Thomas M. Prescott, president and CEO of Align Technology and Thomas C. Wilder, president and CEO of Sequent Medical are both experienced in bringing medical technologies to the global marketplace. Investors in Benvenue Medical [...]

If you don’t eat your life sciences portfolio, you can’t have any Sequoia for dessert! As LPs continue to digest medical technology VC investments, GPs are left hungry for more capital.

Versant Ventures named Dr. Guido Magni as a venture partner in a move to strengthen the firm’s investment team and biotechnology footprint in Europe and worldwide. Magni will manage the firm’s new office in Basel, Switzerland, and was previously a managing director of Versant’s biotechnology incubator, EuroVentures Inc. PRESS RELEASE VERSANT VENTURES — LEADING SEED/EARLY [...]

Sequent Medical Inc., a developer of neurovascular medical devices, has raised $26 million in a Series C round led by Delphi Ventures. Existing investors Versant Ventures, US Venture Partners and Domain Associates also participated. James Bochnowski of Delphi Ventures will join Sequent Medical’s Board of Directors. PRESS RELEASE Sequent Medical, Inc. announced today that it [...]

Five Prime Therapeutics, a clinical-stage, privately-held biotechnology company, has appointed Lewis T. “Rusty” Williams, MD, PhD, founder of FivePrime, as president and chief executive officer and appointed Brian Atwood as chairman of the board. Atwood co-founded Versant Ventures, a healthcare-focused venture capital firm, where he serves as a managing director. PRESS RELEASE Five Prime Therapeutics, [...]

Groove Biopharma has raised $6 million in series B financing from Alexandria Venture Investments, ARCH Venture Partners, OVP Venture Partners, Versant Ventures, and WRF Capital. Seattle-based Groove Biopharma is a privately held biotech.

Lately, there’s been a whole lot of bemoaning of this and that to explain why VCs are abandoning the biotech and device space and why strategics are slowing early-stage funding. Lawmakers and regulators have made it too tough to IPO. Lawmakers and regulators have made it too tough to get anything approved at the FDA. [...]