Riding the V-Wave exit: Who are the big winners?
Riding the V-Wave exit: Who are the big winners?
The pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced on Tuesday the purchase of the Israeli medical device company for up to $1.7 billion. BRM is the largest shareholder in the company and is expected to receive at least $100 million. The second largest shareholder is Pontifax VC of Tomer Kariv and Ran Nussbaum. Other notable investors include Ilan Grinboim and Prof. Benad Goldwasser.
The pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced on Tuesday the acquisition of the Israeli company V-Wave, which develops medical devices in the fields of heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. In the first phase, Johnson & Johnson, which previously invested in the company, will pay approximately $600 million, with an additional $1.1 billion to be paid later, contingent upon meeting certain business and regulatory milestones. The deal is expected to be finalized by the end of the year.
A review of The Registrar of Companies shows that one of the biggest beneficiaries of the deal is the BRM Group, founded by brothers Nir and Eli Barkat. The fund is the largest shareholder in V-Wave and is expected to gain at least $100 million from the acquisition. The second-largest shareholder is Pontifax VC, co-founded by Tomer Kariv and Ran Nussbaum. Another significant shareholder is Triventures, led by Michal Geva.
Among the other investors in V-Wave are Ilan Grinboim, former owner of Bezeq and Yes; Moshe Mizrahy, associated with InMode and Home Skinovations; and Prof. Benad Goldwasser, a prominent independent investor in medical device companies and an early investor in Medinol, which was sold to Boston Scientific. The estate of Dr. Eli Zeevi, who passed away last year, also holds a stake in the company.
V-Wave, which has raised $133 million to date, was founded in 2009 by Dr. Ascher Shmulewitz, Prof. Gad Keren, and Yaakov Nitzan, and is currently led by Dr. Neal Eigler. The company's president is Erez Rozenfeld. V-Wave operates out of its offices in Caesarea and employs dozens of employees who will be integrated into Johnson & Johnson's med-tech division.
