Natick firm Allurion raises $34M for international expansion, U.S. launch
Photo/Grant Welker
Allurion co-founder and CEO Shantanu Gaur holds a demo version of the Allurion Gastric Balloon.
Allurion Technologies, a Natick firm making a weight-loss balloon that doesn't require surgery and passes naturally through the body, has raised another $34 million in funding, it announced Tuesday.
The new funding includes securities financing and a loan, Allurion said. It was led by Novalis LifeSciences of Hampton, N.H., and Romulus Capital of Boston, along with IDO Investments, which is based in the country of Oman, ex-Covidien CEO Jose Almeida, and Bridge Bank, which has local offices in Boston.
Allurion said it plans to use the funding to continue growing internationally and, if it receives U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, launch in the United States.
Allurion already sells the Elipse Balloon in Europe, the Middle East, and South America. In three years, the company has sold 15,000 balloons, Allurion CEO and co-founder Shantanu Gaur said last September when Allurion moved into a new 10,000-square-foot office and lab on Erie Drive in Natick.
The next step is FDA approval to begin sales in the United States. Allurion has completed enrollment for a key trial, and plans to submit a pre-market approval application, known as a PMA, to the FDA next year.
The Elipse Balloon is swallowed in a capsule in a doctor’s office visit, and is inflated through a catheter to about half the size of the stomach, large enough to help a patient lose 10% to 15% of their body weight. After four months, a polymer wears away, the balloon deflates and then passes naturally through the body.
The company has a scale to help users track their weight loss, which is connected by Bluetooth technology to an app.
The 10-year-old company, which Gaur started with fellow Harvard Medical School student Samuel Levy, announced the hiring of a new vice president of global marketing and vice president of North American sales.
Whitney Cypes, the new vice president of global marketing, was most recently the senior director of marketing for Insulet Corp. in Acton, and previously worked for Hologic, Boston Scientific and Covidien. Chris Aronson, the new vice president of North American sales, was most recently at Restoration Robotics in California, where he held the same title.
Allurion promoted Benoit Chardon to executive vice president of global commercial, a role in which he is responsible for driving growth in Latin America, Asia Pacific, and North America, and scaling Allurion Academy, a professional education program begun in 2019.
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