Innosphere invests in Boulder-based medical-device startup

FORT COLLINS — Innosphere, an incubator based in Fort Collins, said on Thursday that through its Innosphere Fund, it has invested in medical-device startup Aspero Medical Corp. in Boulder.

The amount of the investment was not disclosed.

Aspero Medical is developing an endoscopic device that can be used by doctors treating patients with gastrointestinal diseases. Endoscopy is a procedure that allows a doctor to view the inside of a person’s body with the help of a tiny camera.

“There are many limitations to current practices for upper and lower endoscopy procedures,” said Mark Rentschler, Aspero’s chief executive, who developed the technology as a professor and researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. “Our company has a differentiated medical product for use in endoscopy procedures, which results in improved performance, saving time and money, and improved patient outcomes.”

Mike Freeman, Innosphere’s chief executive, said the money will help Aspero Medical, a client company, in its next phase of growth. It will be used to support product development, complete regulatory work and complete a go-to-market strategy.

The Innosphere Fund is a seed-stage venture fund that invests in Innosphere’s client companies. The fund seeks to lead seed-stage investment rounds in companies with motivated founders that are likely to achieve an exit through a corporate acquisition, and require smaller amounts of capital to achieve superior growth milestones.   

Freeman said Rentschler is an “impressive” CU faculty professor and researcher, and also a technologist with a “great sense of the real clinical needs in the GI space, and he understands what’s required to commercialize technology to address those needs.”

Rentschler joined the faculty at the University of Colorado in 2008. He holds a secondary appointment in the Department of Surgery at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and an affiliate position in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Colorado Denver.  

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