Kestra Medical Technologies lands $196M to boost commercialization of wearable defibrillator – GeekWire

Kestra Medical Technologies, a Kirkland, Wash.-based company that develops cardiac monitoring technology, raised $196 million to fuel commercialization efforts.

Founded a decade ago, Kestra’s Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator (WCD) has been used by more than 10,000 patients. The device provides autonomous detection and defibrillation for ventricular arrhythmias and is designed “specifically to meet the underserved needs of female cardiac patients,” according to the company.

“With this funding, our team is ready to aggressively compete and accelerate our commercialization initiatives to transform the WCD market with our clinically proven system,” Brian Webster, president & CEO of Kestra Medical Technologies, said in a press release.

Kestra’s system, which won FDA approval in 2021, can send an alert to Emergency Medical Services (EMS) operator after a defibrillation shock.

Webster has nearly three decades of experience in the medical device industry. He previously led Physio-Control before taking the CEO role at Kestra in 2016.

Kestra is backed by private equity firms including Bain Capital. The latest round was co-led by Andera Partners, Ally Bridge Group, Longitude Capital and Omega Funds, with participation from new investors, funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., Eventide Asset Management and Gilmartin Capital.

Kevin Reilly from Ally Bridge Group, Maxwell Bikoff from Longitude Capital, and Francesco Draetta from Omega Funds will join Kestra’s board.

Total funding to date is $496 million. The company has about 260 employees.