Fort Collins, Colorado – The Innosphere Fund announces their investment in Boulder-based startup company, Aspero Medical Corporation, a company with unique intellectual property (IP) for endoscopy procedures that was developed at the University of Colorado.
Aspero Medical and its technology focuses on Gastrointestinal (GI) diseases which affect around 60 to 70 million Americans annually. “There are many limitations to current practices for upper and lower endoscopy procedures,” said Mark Rentschler, Aspero Medical CEO. “Our company has a differentiated medical product for use in endoscopy procedures which results in improved performance, saving time and money, and improved patient outcomes.” Patient outcomes include a faster procedure and less occurrence of having to have a second scope due to failing to get results during the initial scope.
“The Innosphere Fund was formed to accelerate the growth and exit of Innosphere’s client companies,” said Mike Freeman, Innosphere CEO. “Innosphere is excited to be working with Aspero Medical as a client company, and the Fund is dedicated to supporting the company in its next phase of growth.” Aspero Medical will use the funds to support rapid product development, complete regulatory work, and complete a go-to-market strategy.
The Innosphere Fund is a seed-stage venture fund that invests in Innosphere’s promising client companies. The Fund seeks to lead seed-stage investment rounds in companies with motivated founders that are likely to achieve an exit through a corporate acquisition, and require smaller amounts of capital to achieve superior growth milestones.
“Innosphere has worked with many impressive university faculty over the years, and the Fund found Mark Rentschler to not only be an impressive CU faculty professor and researcher, but also a technologist with a great sense of the real clinical needs in the GI space, and he understands what’s required to commercialize technology to address those needs,” said Freeman. “In 2004, there were an estimated 4.6 million hospitalizations and 236,000 deaths attributable to GI diseases. We’re confident that Aspero Medical has the novel technology that the medical device industry needs to address this large issue, and the Innosphere Fund’s investment will significantly shorten the time it will take to get their product to market.” Dr. Rentschler joined the faculty at the University of Colorado in 2008. He also holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Surgery at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and an affiliate position in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Colorado Denver.
For more information on Aspero Medical, contact CEO Mark Rentschler at [email protected] or (303) 735-6149.
For more information on the Innosphere Fund, contact General Partner of the Innosphere Fund, Mike Freeman, at [email protected] or (970) 818-7736.
About Aspero Medical Corporation
Aspero Medical’s technology was developed at the University of Colorado and has a differentiated medical product for use in endoscopy procedures which results in improved performance, saving time and money, and improved patient outcomes. The company focuses on gastrointestinal (GI) diseases which affect approximately 25% of Americans annually. The company’s medical device utilizes a patent-pending technology that creates a micro-textured balloon for balloon endoscopies. Patient outcomes include a faster procedure and less occurrence of having a second scope. Physician outcomes are faster procedures, improved patient outcomes, and reduction of multiple procedures for individual patients.
About the Innosphere Fund:
The Innosphere Fund is a seed-stage venture capital fund which seeks to lead seed-stage investment rounds in companies that are likely to achieve a near-term exit through a corporate acquisition, and require smaller amounts of capital to achieve superior growth milestones. Made available to Innosphere client companies that meet certain qualifications, such as being Colorado-based and having a motivated team, the Fund was formed to accelerate the growth and exit of Innosphere’s client companies. www.innosphere.fund
About Innosphere
Innosphere accelerates the success of high-impact science and technology-based startup and scaleup companies in Colorado. Innosphere’s incubation program focus on ensuring companies are investor-ready, connecting entrepreneurs with experienced advisors, making introductions to corporate partners, exit planning, and accelerating top line revenue growth. Innosphere supports high-tech entrepreneurs in the industries of bioscience, medical device, health innovations, cleantech, energy, advanced materials, hardware, IoT and enterprise software. Once accepted into the program, companies receive ongoing support to ensure they’re getting the know-how to raise the right kind of capital and developing all the resources to grow. Innosphere has been in operation for 20 years, has locations in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, and Castle Rock, and is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with a strong mission to create jobs and grow Colorado’s entrepreneurship ecosystem. innosphereventures.org
DATE: July 19th, 2018
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Mike Freeman, General Partner, Innosphere FundMark Rentschler, Ph.D., P.E., CEO Aspero
(970) 817-4791 | [email protected](303) 735-6149 | [email protected]