Pulnovo Medical closes nearly $100 million Series C, setting a new Asia-Pacific record for medical device financing

Pulnovo Medical, a Chinese medical device company, recently announced it has raised nearly $100 million in its Series C round. The round was co-led by Qiming Venture Partners and returning investor LAV (Lilly Asia Ventures), with existing backers OrbiMed and Gaorong Ventures making additional investments above their pro-rata rights. Gaorong first invested in Pulnovo in 2021 and has continued to double down in the two subsequent rounds.

The new capital will primarily fund the company's global clinical programs, international expansion, and strategic development.

Pulnovo noted that the round was twice oversubscribed, making it the largest market-led financing in the Asia-Pacific innovative medical device sector in recent years — a signal of top-tier investors' confidence in the company's international strategy and specialized capabilities.

A Pioneer in Original Chinese Medical Devices

Founded in 2013, Pulnovo focuses on breakthrough therapies for pulmonary hypertension and heart failure, aiming to improve patients' resilience and quality of life. As a Chinese original-equipment pioneer whose technology is written into international clinical guidelines, the company leverages deep clinical resources to advance scientific exploration of disruptive technologies and commercially deploy them with a global outlook. It seeks to create better solutions at different stages of heart failure to delay and improve disease progression, using technological innovation to reshape the therapeutic landscape.

Pulnovo's core team comprises experts with deep expertise and extensive clinical networks in cardiopulmonary medicine. Chair, Executive Chairman, and President Cynthia Chen previously worked at WHO headquarters in Geneva and Medtronic China. Executive Director and CEO Jessie Lian previously held roles at Johnson & Johnson and Cardinal Health, before serving as Asia-Pacific President and China General Manager at Cordis. Drawing on their extensive industry experience and market acumen, the Pulnovo team partnered with leading cardiopulmonary physicians to pioneer explorations in this field.

PADN Reaches Top Western Medical Institutions

Pulnovo's proprietary core technology, Percutaneous Pulmonary Artery Denervation (PADN) — comprising a series of catheters and a console system — is the world's first minimally invasive interventional therapy for pulmonary hypertension to receive approval first in China. Pulmonary hypertension (PH), when severe, can lead to heart failure and death; it has been called "the cancer of cardiovascular diseases" and treatment options remain very limited, with drug therapy as the mainstay. PADN uses radiofrequency ablation to block sympathetic nerves in the pulmonary vascular intima, effectively reducing pulmonary artery pressure and slowing disease progression.

Over the past eight years, Pulnovo's PADN clinical trials have been presented annually at TCT (Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics), the most influential cardiovascular summit in the US, with more than 15 papers published in top-tier cardiovascular journals including JACC, EuroIntervention, and JACC: Heart Failure. This marks growing recognition of this Chinese original technology by the global academic and clinical communities in pulmonary hypertension treatment.

In October 2024, a Pulnovo delegation was invited to Mayo Clinic in the US to conduct the first North American clinical training on PADN. Mayo Clinic, internationally renowned as a top-tier medical institution, has been ranked the world's #1 hospital by Newsweek for six consecutive years and is a global leader in adopting novel medical approaches and technologies. Pulnovo's visit signifies the push of a "Chinese solution" onto the global stage of medical innovation. It also marked the first time in history that a Chinese team, Chinese principal investigator, and Chinese protocol entered Mayo Clinic together.

Original Chinese Medical Device Innovation for Global Benefit

Beyond its accelerating commercialization in China, Pulnovo has multiple ongoing clinical programs worldwide. In China, a large-scale registration clinical trial for chronic heart failure combined with WHO Group 2 pulmonary hypertension is nearing completion, conducted in collaboration with more than 30 top-tier tertiary hospitals. Internationally, with support from leading hospitals and research institutions across Europe and Asia, the global multicenter clinical study of PADN for chronic heart failure with Group 2 PH is progressing smoothly, with enrolled and soon-to-enroll sites covering Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Georgia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Meanwhile, two FDA global multicenter clinical trials are also set to launch in the US.

The Pulnovo team stated: "In AI, DeepSeek emerged from China to demonstrate global impact. In medical devices, Pulnovo aims to represent the rise of Chinese medical device innovation. In the past, Chinese medical device companies learned from foreign technologies and could only follow at a distance; now, Chinese companies stand at the source of innovation, leading global development directions in non-pharmacological and interventional treatments for pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. Pulnovo has broken from the traditional Chinese device company model of going overseas through distributors and channel partnerships, bringing Chinese original technologies and products step by step onto the international stage."

Kun Yang, Partner at Gaorong Ventures, said: "Congratulations to Pulnovo on completing a new round against the headwinds at the start of 2025 — this is also Gaorong's third consecutive round of steadfast support."

"As a Chinese original medical device company and the pioneer of PADN, Pulnovo has achieved surprising acceleration over the past year-plus. Its product has not only received NMPA approval and become China's first approved first-in-class original pulmonary hypertension device, launching on the commercial path; it has also efficiently advanced global multicenter clinical trials. We believe that in the near future, it will gain additional market access certifications including EU CE mark and US FDA. Pulnovo's excellent progress and clinical recognition demonstrate that truly globally innovative, safe, and effective Chinese treatment solutions and original devices are fully capable of reaching the heights of global medical innovation. We look forward to continuing to support the Pulnovo team in bringing breakthrough therapies to the world, benefiting more heart failure and pulmonary hypertension patients."