Renovia, a digital therapeutics maker for female pelvic floor disorders, today shared the closing of its Series C-1 financing round worth $17 million.

The round included previous backers including Perceptive Life Sciences, Longwood Fund, Ascension Ventures and OSF Ventures, in addition to new investor Parian Global Management.

WHAT THEY DO

Renovia's flagship product, leva, is an FDA-cleared digital therapeutic that helps women strengthen their pelvic floor muscles to treat urinary incontinence.

Urinary incontinence is more common in women and becomes more prevalent with age. For young adults, the prevalence is between 20% and 30% but increases to 30% to 50% in the elderly, according to Reviews in Urology. 

The product includes a vaginal probe and connected app that helps women visualize how they're training their pelvic floor in real time.

In a clinical trial, the first generation of leva saw 50% of women experience symptom improvement after one week, and 87% of women reported no leakage by week six. 

The latest version of leva is currently being studied to evaluate its efficacy compared with kegel exercises alone.

WHAT IT'S FOR

Renovia said it plans to use the funds from its financing round to support the nationwide launch of the latest iteration of the leva Digital Therapeutic, which began in early April.

The money will also be used for additional clinical development of its product for the treatment of urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor disorders, according to the announcement.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Renovia's last funding round was in 2018 and totaled $32.3 million.

Since urinary incontinence is a relatively common disorder, there are numerous treatment options available. In the digital health space, there's a connected kegel tracker from Elvie, an ultrasound wearable sensor from DFree, an implantable electronic artificial urinary sphincter from UroMems, and a two-in-one fertility tracking and kegel exercising device from Lady Technologies.

ON THE RECORD

"Renovia and the leva Digital Therapeutic are creating the gold standard for addressing the unmet medical needs of tens of millions of women suffering from urinary incontinence and other pelvic floor disorders," Zach Miller, chief investment officer at Parian Global Management, said in a statement.

 "Until now, the large and chronically underserved population of women whose symptoms are not severe enough to warrant surgical intervention has been forced to mask the problem with limited effective treatment options. Renovia is filling this void with a clinically validated and technology-enabled product platform to help patients in the privacy of their own homes, while simultaneously ensuring a woman's doctor remains central to her care. We believe this model represents the future of healthcare, and we are thrilled to be partnering with a proven leadership team at Renovia whose track record of driving clinical and commercial change to improve the standard of care in women's health positions the company to address this tremendous need with a scalable, technology-first approach."