Maurice R. Ferré’s company just got a new investment valuing it at more than $1 billion
INSIGHTEC, an incisionless surgery company led by Maurice R. Ferré, announced Friday it had that received an investment of up to $150 million that will value it at $1.3 billion.
That makes it Miami’s latest “unicorn,” or a company worth at least 10 figures in tech parlance.
INSIGHTEC’s technology is an FDA-approved focused-ultrasound device that is primarily used to treat essential tremor, the most common movement disorder; and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s disease. The company was founded in 1999 in Israel; in 2014, it brought on Ferré, a co-founder of MAKO Surgical, as executive chairman. Ferré was named INSIGHTEC CEO in 2016. He is the son of former Miami Mayor Maurice A. Ferré.
In an interview, Ferré said the investment will prove not just a boon for INSIGHTEC but also serves as another milestone in the history of Miami tech companies.
“I do think it’s important for South Florida,” he said. “It’s another example of building out our medical technology sector, and another spin-out coming out of MAKO.”
The sale of MAKO, a robotic-surgery platform, to medical device giant Stryker in 2013 helped reinforce Ferré’s bonafides as a successful business leader. The proceeds from that sale were also used to help launch Magic Leap, the South Florida augmented reality company that also has a nominal value of more than $1 billion. Mako’s sale also eventual helped create or fund other local med-tech companies including DermaSensor, a skin cancer detection company; OrthoSensor, an orthopedic technology company; and Neocis, another robotic surgery company.
The investment round announced Friday was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies (KDT), a subsidiary of Koch Industries. It’s Koch’s second major investment in INSIGHTEC, which has now raised more than $500 million. INSIGHTEC’s technology is currently available at more than 65 medical centers worldwide. It is also in trials to treat a host of other neurological conditions.
Ferré said the investment round, which is at least the sixth for his company, will help in the development and commercialization of its technology. The privately held company declined to provide additional financial information or current employee headcount.
“There’s high demand,” he said.”We’re in an important commercial phase, and we’re excited about being in that threshold. That’s how companies like ours become profitable.”
Ferré said the investment also means more hiring at its main campus in Brickell. He said the company sees Miami as a strategically ideal headquarters given its access to both global markets and local patients in one of the largest health care sectors in the United States.
“There’s a real interest and appetite not only at the hospital level but also the state level—we’re seeing this governor [Ron DeSantis] taking steps on some of these issues with mental health, looking at our patient populations here. And as a company out of Florida, we’re positioning ourselves to play that up more, and that will lead to more companies moving in our direction.”
This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 4:39 PM.
