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BioCardia Announces Litigation Financing in the Case Captioned Boston Scientific Corp., et al., v. BioCardia Inc.

By John Freund |

SAN CARLOS, Calif., April 14, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — BioCardia, Inc. (Nasdaq: BCDA), a leader in the development of comprehensive solutions for cardiovascular regenerative therapies, today reported it has entered into an agreement for litigation financing which has been filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K.

BioCardia, Inc. entered into a Litigation Funding Agreement with BSLF, L.L.C., an entity owned and controlled by Andrew Blank, a member of BioCardia’s board of directors, for the purpose of funding the Company’s currently pending legal proceedings and any and all claims, actions and/or proceedings relating to, or arising from, the case captioned Boston Scientific Corp., et al., v. BioCardia Inc., Case No. 3:19-05645-VC, U.S.D.C., N. D. Cal (the “Litigation”). The Litigation relates to matters the Company raised in a letter to Ms. Surbhi Sarna, nVision Medical and Boston Scientific based on BioCardia’s discovery in January 2019 that Ms. Sarna had assigned to a company she founded, nVision Medical, a patent and patent applications she had filed while a BioCardia employee. nVision subsequently was acquired by Boston Scientific.

BioCardia made various claims, including that the patent and patent application rightfully belonged to BioCardia pursuant to Ms. Sarna’s invention assignment agreement, that the proceeds from the sale of nVision to Boston Scientific rightfully belonged to BioCardia because they were the direct result of Ms. Sarna’s breach of her obligation to assign to BioCardia the patent and patent applications and the use of misappropriated BioCardia trade secrets.  On September 6, 2019, Boston Scientific Corporation, Boston Scientific Scimed Inc., and Fortis Advisors LLC (the “Boston Scientific Parties”) filed a complaint against BioCardia in the United States District Court Northern District of California, Case no. 3:19-05645-VC, seeking declarations that the claims made in BioCardia’s correspondence were without basis. On October 31, 2019, BioCardia filed a counterclaim against the Boston Scientific Parties and Ms. Sarna for breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets and correction of inventorship on the patents naming Ms. Sarna as an inventor. BioCardia seeks imposition of constructive trusts both on the patents naming Ms. Sarna as an inventor and the proceeds received from the sale of nVision to Boston Scientific, as well as damages, including unjust enrichment damages measured by the proceeds received from the sale of nVision to Boston Scientific.

Under the terms of the Funding Agreement, the Funder agreed to fund the legal fees and costs incurred by the Company in connection with the Litigation on and after March 1, 2020 on a non-recourse basis in return for a share of the litigation proceeds.  Details of the Funding Agreement are available in the Form 8-K filed today.

BioCardia CEO Peter Altman, PhD, said, “This litigation financing gives BioCardia the wherewithal to pursue its claims in court. This preserves our investment focus on advancing our important cell therapy product pipeline to treat cardiovascular diseases, and the commercialization of our FDA-approved enabling device products.”

About BioCardia®
BioCardia, Inc., headquartered in San Carlos, California, is developing regenerative biologic therapies to treat cardiovascular disease. CardiAMP™ and CardiALLO™ cell therapies are the Company’s biotherapeutic product candidates in clinical development. The Company’s current products include the Helix™ transendocardial delivery system, the Morph® steerable guide and sheath catheter portfolio and the AVANCE™ steerable introducer family. BioCardia also partners with other biotherapeutic companies to provide its Helix systems and clinical support to their programs studying therapies for the treatment of heart failure, chronic myocardial ischemia and acute myocardial infarction.

Forward Looking Statements 
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to many risks and uncertainties. In particular, the outcome and timing of litigation are uncertain.  These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this press release, and BioCardia assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements.

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Announcements Commercial People Moves

Darrow Names Mathew Keshav Lewis As Chief Revenue Officer & US General Manager

By John Freund |

Darrow, the leading AI-powered justice intelligence platform, today announced the appointment of Mathew Keshav Lewis as its first Chief Revenue Officer and US General Manager. Lewis brings over 20 years of experience driving revenue and growth for high-profile legal and technology companies – including SaaS platform Dealpath, alternative investment platform Yieldstreet, and legal services pioneer Axiom Law – and will be responsible for helping Darrow scale as it continues an accelerated growth trajectory. 

"Mathew's arrival at Darrow opens enterprise-level deals to all plaintiff law firms, previously accessible only to a select few,” said Evyatar Ben Artzi, CEO and Co-Founder of Darrow. “His expertise from YieldStreet and Axiom empowers our partners to leverage AI, driving unprecedented growth and innovation.” 

Lewis, who will be based in Darrow’s New York headquarters, joins Darrow after serving as the first Chief Revenue Officer of Dealpath, a real estate deal management platform. He also previously held the role of Chief Revenue Officer and GM, Investments at Yieldstreet, where he drove record revenue and growth for the investment platform. 

“I’m delighted to join a team of tremendously talented individuals at Darrow, who have already disrupted the legal technology space and forged the path ahead,” said Mathew Keshav Lewis, Chief Revenue Officer & US General Manager of Darrow. “I am inspired by Darrow’s progress to date, and I look forward to working alongside Darrow’s growing team to expand the company’s footprint.”

This announcement comes at a period of rapid growth for the company, which completed its $35 million Series B funding round last year. Darrow currently works on active litigation valued over $10 billion across legal domains such as privacy, consumer protection, and antitrust. 

About Darrow: Founded in 2020, Darrow is a LegalTech company on a mission to fuel law firm growth and deliver justice for victims of class and mass action lawsuits. Darrow's AI-powered justice intelligence platform leverages generative AI and world-class legal experts and technologists to uncover egregious violations across legal domains spanning privacy and data breach, consumer protection, securities and financial fraud, environment, and employment. Darrow is based out of New York City and Tel Aviv. For more information, visit: darrow.ai. 

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Announcements Commercial

Omni Bridgeway Releases Investment Portfolio Report for 3Q24

By John Freund |

Omni Bridgeway Limited (ASX: OBL) (Omni Bridgeway, OBL, Group) announces the key investment performance metrics for the three months ended 31 March 2024 (3Q24, Quarter) and for the financial year to date (FYTD).

Summary

  • Investment income of A$296 million FYTD; A$56 million provisionally attributable to OBL.
  • 23 full completions, 17 partial completions FYTD, with an overall multiple on invested capital (MOIC) of2.0x.
  • A$333 million of new commitments FYTD with a corresponding A$447 million in new fair value, on track to achieve our A$625 million target.
  • Pricing remains at improved levels, up 32% for the FYTD compared to FY23.
  • Strong pipeline, with agreed term sheets outstanding for an estimated A$212 million in new commitments.
  • OBL cash and receivables of A$101 million plus A$60 million in undrawn debt at 31 March 2024.
  • A$4.4 billion of possible estimated portfolio value (EPV) in completions over the next 12 months. 
  • Further simplification and enhancement of our disclosures as announced at the Annual General Meeting, comprising non-IFRS OBL-only financials and non-IFRS fair value on a portfolio basis and OBL-only basis.
  • These new disclosures and metrics, as well as a valuation framework for our existing book and platform, were presented at our investor day on 27 March 2024.

Refer to https://omnibridgeway.com/investors/investor-day.

Key metrics and developments for the Quarter

Income and completions

  • Investment income of A$296 million generated from A$193 million income recognised and A$103 million income yet to be recognised (IYTBR), with A$56 million provisionally attributable to OBL FYTD (excluding management and performance fees). 
  • During the Quarter, 11 full completions and 11 partial completions (excluding IYTBR), resulting in 23 full completions and 17 partial completions (excluding IYTBR) FYTD, and one secondary market transaction, with a FYTD overall MOIC of 2.0x.

New commitments

  • Our stated targets for FY24 include A$625 million in new commitments or equivalent value, prioritising value over volume to reflect potential for improved pricing of new commitments.
  • FYTD new commitments of A$333 million at 31 March 2024 (from matters that were newly funded, conditionally approved or had increased investment opportunities). 
  • The fair value associated with these commitments is $447million, 72% of the full year value generation target.
  • Pipeline of 37 agreed exclusive term sheets, representing approximately A$212 million in investment opportunities, which if converted into funded investments is a further 34% of our FY24 commitments target.  
  • In addition to the regular new commitments to investments in the existing funds FYTD, an additional A$11.5 million of external co-fundings were secured for these investments to manage fund concentration limits. OBL will be entitled to management fees as well as performance fees on such external co-funding.

Portfolio review

  • A$4.4 billion of EPV is assessed to possibly complete in the 12 months following the end of the quarter. This 12 month rolling EPV is based on investments which are subject to various stages of (anticipated) settlement discussions or for which an award or a judgment is expected. All or only part of these may actually complete during the 12 month period.
  • We anticipate replacing these final EPV metrics with fair value metrics by the end of this financial year.

Cash reporting and financial position

  • At 31 March 2024, the Group held A$100.7 million in cash and receivables (A$62.8 million in OBL balance sheet cash, A$2.0 million in OBL balance sheet receivables and A$35.9 million of OBL share of cash and receivables within Funds) plus access to a further A$60 million in debt.
  • In aggregate, we have approximately A$161 million to meet operational needs, interest payments, and fund investments before recognising any investment completions, secondary market sales, management and transaction fees, and associated fund performance fees.
  • Post Quarter-end and as per the date of this report, in anticipation of the expiry of the availability period of the debt facility, OBL has drawn down the A$60 million in undrawn debt and received the funds.

Investor day

The investor day presentation and Q&A which took place on 27 March 2024 can be viewed at https://omnibridgeway.com/investors/investor-day.

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Carpentum Capital Launches Aurigon Litigation Risk Consulting (LRC)

By John Freund |

The team around former Carpentum Capital has launched AURIGON LITIGATION RISK CONSULTING (LRC), a litigation funding intermediary based in Switzerland with a special focus on Latin America. 

Founder and Managing Director Dr. Detlef A. Huber comments: ”AURIGON LRC is combining two worlds, litigation finance and insurance. Both areas are increasingly overlapping. Insurers offer ever more litigation risk transfer products and funders recur to insurance to hedge their risks. Hence complexity and advisory requirements are increasing, especially in still developing markets like Latin America. With our team of lawyers and former re/insurance executives trained in Latin America, the US, UK and Europe we are perfectly suited to advice our clients in any stage of the funding process or in related insurance matters. Our goal is to become the preferred partner for litigation and arbitration funding projects out of Latin American jurisdictions and I am looking forward to this new adventure.”

ABOUT AURIGON

AURIGON Advisors Ltd. is operating as re/insurance consultancy since 2011 with a special focus on dispute resolution and auditing. With AURIGON LRC an intermediary for litigation funding has been launched servicing our clients out of Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Switzerland in Spanish, English, Portuguese and German. With our experience setting up the first Swiss litigation fund dedicated to Latin America (founded 2018), and in the insurance advisory area (since 2011), we are bringing together knowledge of processes and mindsets of the funding and the insurance world. 

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