HAPPE Spine has announced the closure of a US$3.35 million Series A funding round, the proceeds of which will be used to help launch an interbody spinal fusion implant, with a focus on completing final regulatory testing and obtaining 510(k) approval.
The money will also go towards scaling manufacturing operations and the production of implant and instrument inventory as well as adding several new strategic leadership and staff positions within the company.
The funding round was led by strategic investors within the spine industry along with continuing investment from the Genesis Innovation Group’s cultivate(MD) Seed II Fund— a fund focused on investments into early-stage healthcare companies.
HAPPE Spine’s orthopaedic material platform, hydroxyapatite porous peek (HAPPE), transforms polyetheretherketone (PEEK) from a hydrophobic, bioinert, and non-integrating material into a hydrophilic, bioactive, and osteointegrating material.
As such, the HAPPE material platform is designed to improve clinical outcomes in spinal fusion by augmenting the radiolucency, bone-like mechanical properties, and subsidence resistance of conventional PEEK with designed cancellous porosity and bioactive surfaces for osteointegration.
Daniel Riew, professor of orthopaedics at Cornell and Columbia universities (New York, USA), said: “I look forward to utilising HAPPE’s porous and bioactive PEEK, which has all the radiographic and clinical benefits of a synthetic cage while overcoming the negative aspects of an inert, hydrophobic PEEK device that cannot osteointegrate.”
Stephen Smith, a neurosurgeon at the Beacon Health System (South Bend, USA) and a co-inventor of the HAPPE technology, added: “If you combine the best of allograft and PEEK, you get HAPPE. HAPPE is both spine- and surgeon-friendly. It is biologically compatible, strong and radiographically informative.”
HAPPE Spine founder, Ryan Roeder, stated: “I am humbled and honoured by the strong response to our Series A capital raise, especially considering that we intentionally targeted spine industry leaders for the majority of this raise. We received robust buy-in from those who best understand the market opportunity for our biomaterial platform.”
