Ablacon Announces Closing of a $10 Million Venture Debt Facility and $2 Million Equity Investment from Western Technology Investment; Josef Koblish and Melissa Kong to Join the Company

MENLO PARK, Calif., July 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Ablacon Inc. announced today that it has entered into a $10 million venture debt facility with Western Technology Investment (WTI). The debt is accompanied by a $2 million equity investment in the Company. This financing will help fund Ablacon's first multicenter randomized clinical trial for Ablamap, an advanced mapping system for patients with atrial fibrillation.

"WTI has been a trusted investment partner in several of my former companies, and I am delighted to welcome them into Ablacon," says Duke Rohlen, Ablacon Executive Chairman.

Maurice Werdegar, President and CEO of WTI, responded, "We are thrilled to be investing for the sixth time alongside a great entrepreneur, Duke Rohlen, and look forward to seeing the refinement and ultimate commercialization of the Ablacon technology."

This round of financing is in addition to the $21.5 million Series A investment led by Ajax Health in May 2019. 

Ablacon has also announced today that Josef Koblish and Melissa Kong, M.D. have joined the company as Chief Strategy Officer and Associate Medical Director, respectively.

Joe Koblish has 27 years of medical device industry experience, 25 of which were spent researching and developing cardiac electrophysiology products. He has been granted 85 patents, authored numerous scientific publications and has led the development and commercialization of over a dozen devices. Most recently, he led the development of Epix Therapeutics' DiamondTemp cardiac ablation system, which was acquired by Medtronic. He holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Stevens Institute of Technology.     

Melissa Kong is a board-certified cardiac electrophysiologist, who specializes in the evaluation, management and treatment of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias. She was a partner at Silicon Valley Cardiology, where she practiced at Sequoia Hospital performing complex ablations and comprehensive cardiac device and lead management. Melissa consults for multiple medical device companies, sits on a steering committee for an international, multicenter clinical trial and has served as the Principal Investigator for numerous clinical trials and registries. She earned her medical degree from Duke University, where she completed an internship/residency in internal medicine, fellowship in cardiovascular disease, and subspecialty fellowship in cardiac electrophysiology.  Melissa also graduated from Princeton, summa cum laude from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. 

About Ablacon

Ablacon Inc. is a Wheat Ridge, CO-based company, with offices in Munich, Germany and Menlo Park, California, developing an advanced mapping system to guide the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AFib), the most frequent cardiac arrythmia. The company's system uses machine learning to precisely localize and characterize the sources of AFib and to guide targeted therapy by visualizing the Electrographic Flow within the cardiac chambers. The company's technology obtained CE Mark in 2018 and is currently being used in Europe.

About Western Technology Investment

WTI (www.westerntech.com) is a leading venture debt firm that partners with founders building innovative companies at all stages of development. We pride ourselves in being consistent and communicating with transparency through growth and challenges. 

About Ajax Health
Ajax Health seeks to identify, invest in and scale disruptive technologies in the medical device space. Taking an active operating role, the Ajax team has a proven track record of helping companies of all sizes, stages and structures achieve their value-creation goals. Ajax is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA.

SOURCE Ablacon, Inc.