Announcing Allurion’s $27M Series C
Great companies, and great venture capital firms, aren’t built in a day.
Six years ago, we made our first investment into the first medical device company in our portfolio: Allurion Technologies. The company — and our investment in it — has blossomed since that initial seed round. Today, we announced that we have led Allurion’s $27M Series C round. This is the biggest investment we’ve ever made and our largest medtech investment to date.
Over the years, we’ve worked closely with — and learned much from — Allurion, which operates much like a tech company even as it straddles the medical and cosmetic spaces. Allurion’s work is premised on the idea that patients are also discerning consumers who want to be more involved in their medical decision-making. Inspired by the accounts of overweight individuals who were looking for a weight-loss option that was both more effective than a combination of diet and exercise and less invasive than surgery or endoscopy, the Allurion team created the Elipse Balloon.
The Elipse is the world’s first gastric balloon that does not require surgery, endoscopy, or anesthesia for its insertion or removal. In a brief office visit, a patient swallows a pill that deploys an empty balloon into his or her stomach, which is then filled with liquid by a doctor or nurse via a thin catheter. The Elipse Balloon remains in the patient’s stomach for approximately four months before it empties and naturally exits the digestive tract, without the need for a removal procedure. On average, Elipse Balloon users lose 33 pounds over the course of treatment.
Allurion received its European CE Mark in 2015 and is currently available in more than 40 leading weight loss centers in ten countries across Europe and the Middle East. With this new round of funding, the company will expand its global commercial presence while pursuing a U.S. clinical trial as part of its approval process with the FDA.
There is so much that is exciting ahead for this company, and so much that it has already accomplished. Allurion is a company whose innovation and vision have already produced tangible benefits for its customers. Around the world, Elipse Balloon users have already lost tens of thousands of pounds and become happier, healthier, more empowered consumers in the process.
It didn’t take a day to get to this point — it took years — and we’re excited to see what the coming years will bring. Congratulations to the entire Allurion team; we look forward to continuing to build with you.
Read Romulus founder and new Allurion board member Krishna K. Gupta’s thoughts on the company’s Series C round here.
