Renovia Secures $42.3 Million Series B Financing to Advance Non-Surgical Digital Therapies for Female Urinary Incontinence

VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) has learned that on August 21, Renovia announced the completion of its $42.3 million Series B financing round, led by Perceptive Advisors and Ascension Ventures. The round comprised $32.2 million in equity financing and $10 million in venture debt. Previously, Renovia had raised $8 million in equity funding in 2017. This brings Renovia’s total capital raised to $50.3 million over the two years since its founding.

Renovia’s Funding Status. Image source: Crunchbase

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Boston, Renovia is a company focused on treating female pelvic floor disorders, dedicated to leveraging smartphones as tools for urinary incontinence treatment, primarily targeting female users. Renovia has two main products: the Leva Digital Pelvic Health System (abbreviated as “Leva PDHS”) and the pelvic floor training device EmbaGYN, which help women accurately perform Kegel exercises to strengthen their pelvic floor muscles.

The pelvic floor muscles are a group of interconnected muscles located beneath the bladder. They may become weakened due to childbirth or other factors, leading to leakage. Exercises can strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, and strong pelvic floor muscles may help reduce the risk of involuntary bladder leakage.

Kegel Exercises Image from Renovia's Official Website

Leva PDHS was initially developed by the Baton Rouge Sports Laboratory in Los Angeles and received FDA approval for market launch in 2014 for the treatment of mild to moderate urinary incontinence in women. Currently, patients can only purchase Leva PDHS with a physician’s prescription. Renovia holds global commercial rights to the Leva PDHS product kit.

The Leva PDHS kit includes a probe and an app, utilizing visualization technology to help users target the primary pelvic floor muscles. It provides programmed coaching courses through real-time interaction, thereby optimizing Kegel exercises.

Leva PDHS Kit. Image from the official Renovia website.

Leva PDHS features two built-in modes: “Practice” and “Training.” In Practice mode, users can exercise for any duration at any body angle; Leva PDHS records real-time data and tracks and compares it with historical data. In Training mode, the system sets a fixed exercise duration of 2 minutes and 30 seconds and specifies a target body-angle trajectory. Leva PDHS records the deviation angles between the user’s actual body trajectory and the preset trajectory, prompting the user to make corrections.

EmbaGYN is a toolkit designed to assist with pelvic floor muscle training, comprising an exerciser and a controller. During use, the patient inserts the exerciser vaginally; under the regulation of the controller, it delivers gentle electrical pulses to exercise the pelvic floor muscles, thereby restoring muscle control and alleviating symptoms of urinary incontinence.

EmbaGYN image from the official Renovia website

EmbaGYN is commonly used for stress urinary incontinence and can also provide therapeutic benefits for other types of urinary incontinence. Stress urinary incontinence refers to urine leakage caused by insufficient control of the pelvic floor muscles when actions such as coughing, sneezing, or laughing exert pressure on the bladder.

Renovia stated that this round of financing will be used for clinical trials, product development, and future commercial promotion. One of the clinical trials is scheduled to begin in October, with an expected enrollment of 225 patients. The purpose of this clinical trial is to compare the efficacy of EmbaGYM versus Kegel exercises in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence.

According to statistics, 61% of American women under the age of 60 experience pelvic floor muscle laxity, and one-third of women suffer from urinary incontinence. Current treatment options for urinary incontinence include Kegel exercises, medication, and surgery, with Kegel exercise therapy being the preferred approach for mild cases. Leva PDHS is the only FDA-cleared innovative assistive device for Kegel exercises and is covered by most health insurance plans.

Perceptive Advisors is a privately owned hedge fund,Headquartered in New York, New York,Investing in global public equity markets using a long-only strategy/Short-selling stock strategies serve as hedging techniques and are used for investment purposes. The company typically invests in the biotechnology and life sciences sectors.

Ascension Ventures (“AHV”) was established by Ascension Health in 2001, with a commitment of $125 million to invest in mid-to-late stage healthcare companies. Ascension Health is the largest Catholic and largest nonprofit health system in the United States, serving patients through a network of hospitals and health facilities across 20 states and the District of Columbia. AHV provides its limited partners with access to venture-level financial returns while offering early insights into the future development of healthcare.