Colonoscopy device gets boost from Ziegler Meditech
From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Benad Goldwasser is a man on a mission: to make colonoscopies easier for doctors and less painful for patients
Working with a team near Tel Aviv, Israel, Goldwasser – a doctor, native Israeli and former college professor – thinks he has found the answer. It’s a high-tech camera embedded in a balloon-like structure that can glide easily through a bowel so patients won’t have to be knocked out.
Bringing such visions to market requires more than just brainpower and elegant engineering; it also requires money.
Working with investors in Israel, and adding some of his own money, Goldwasser was able to raise $19 million for his company, G.I. View Ltd., after he began the firm in 2003.
But earlier this year, he needed additional capital.
Enter Ziegler Meditech Equity Partners, one of the most unusual investment funds in Milwaukee. A part of Wisconsin’s BC Ziegler and Co., it put $5 million into G.I. View Ltd. of Ramat Gan, Israel. In exchange, Ziegler got a seat on G.I. View’s seven-member board and preferred stock in the company, which has yet to post a profit.
That is just fine with Charles O’Meara, managing director of the fund. G.I. View fits the profile of a firm that interests him. It is in the medical devices business and has a prototype but needs to invest in getting the product approved for use in the United States. In addition, the inventor is still involved, and there is the prospect of cashing out within one or two years, either through sale to the public or to a larger company.
G.I. View was Ziegler Meditech’s largest investment and its third in Israel. It has stakes in six firms, and $18 million in working capital.