VIENNA, AUSTRIA, Miracor Medical Systems GmbH, a private Austrian medical device company, announced today that the company has secured €7M/$10M in the first closing of the Series B financing round. Second closing is pending approval by other European venture investors and potential new investors.

The financing round was supported by Austria Wirtschaftsservice (aws) and German venture capital investor SHS Gesellschaft fur Beteiligungsmanagement as well as the existing investors Earlybird and Delta Partners. Miracor has since its foundation in May 2008 secured a total of €14.9M/$21.3M in venture capital and grants to develop the company.

"We find Miracor an extremely interesting investment opportunity," said Hubertus Leonhardt, partner at SHS. "We believe that there is a big unmet clinical need to improve the outcome in acute coronary syndrome patients, and Miracor has convincingly demonstrated that its PICSO(R) technology, patent portfolio, clinical outcomes and future trials will address this unmet clinical need," added Leonhardt.

Miracor will in 2011 initiate the post CE-mark "Prepare RAMSES" clinical trial and will also start initial sales activities in select hospitals in Europe. The company plans to initiate the randomized multi-centre RAMSES trial in 2012 at the same time as it will expand its European sales activities.

"Austria Wirtschaftsservice - the Austrian government promotional bank - is happy to announce its support of an advanced medical device company like Miracor," says Bernhard Sagmeister; aws Managing Director. "Companies like Miracor are important drivers to develop interesting employment opportunities for highly qualified staff in Austria."

"We are very pleased that we now can focus on the clinical trials to document the positive effects of our technology," said Jon H. Hoem, Miracor CEO. "With the strong investor syndicate backing Miracor we have a unique opportunity to bring our product offering to the patients who need additional care after a heart attack. We also look forward to continue the work with our key opinion leaders and clinical investigators to document the potential of PICSO(R) in this setting," added Hoem.

Timely myocardial reperfusion using primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) remains the most effective treatment strategy for limiting infarct size, reducing left ventricular remodeling, and improving clinical outcomes following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Despite optimum primary PCI, the mortality and morbidity following a STEMI event remains sizable. Clearly, primary PCI alone is not enough to eliminate the risk for future cardiovascular events. Paradoxically, the process of restoring coronary blood flow can in itself exacerbate the myocardial injury. Recent studies have also shown that reduced door-to-balloon time does not reduce mortality in STEMI patients. Miracor's Pressure-controlled Intermittent Coronary Sinus Occlusion (PICSO(R)) Impulse System offers a new and innovative approach to reduce myocardial injury and to revitalize ischemic myocardium thereby providing a cardioprotective effect called cardioprotected PCI (cPCITM). Initial clinical results show positive effects on MACE, restenosis rates, and long-term event-free survival. The PICSO(R) system consists of the Miracor PICSO(R) Impulse Console and the disposable, single-use Miracor PICSO(R) Impulse Catheter.

About Miracor Medical Systems GmbH

Based in Vienna, Austria, privately held Miracor is commercializing a unique and potentially disruptive technology, PICSO(R), for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), heart failure, and cardiac surgery patients. The Company's objective is to establish PICSO(R) as the standard of care for heart attack patients, thereby improving their quality of life. The initial market opportunity for PICSO(R) is 30% of all ACS patients treated per year, which translates into more than 350,000 patients in the U.S. and Europe.

The Miracor PICSO(R) Impulse System is CE-marked and can be used during coronary revascularization procedures following myocardial infarction and other types of acute coronary syndromes to intermittently increase the pressure in the coronary venous system. The technology is for investigational use only in the United States at this time.

About Delta Partners

Delta Partners (www.deltapartners.com) is a venture capital firm investing in European technology companies. It was established in 1994 and has €250 million under management. The firm has a strong focus on investing in early stage technology companies, and is among the most active early stage investors in Europe. The team has made over 65 investments to date and its medtech portfolio includes Advanced Surgical Concepts Ltd (Ireland), Neoss Ltd (UK), Glysure Ltd (UK), SpineGuard SA (France), Miracor Medical Systems GmbH (Austria) and Accunostics Ltd (UK).

About Earlybird

Earlybird Venture Capital is one of the most successful European venture investors. Currently, Earlybird manages over 430 million Euro of assets for an international investor base. Earlybird invests in innovative, fast growing companies with outstanding management teams and high growth potential on international markets. Earlybird's portfolio currently includes more than 25 companies in eight countries (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, UK, USA, Italy and Turkey). Since its inception, Earlybird has invested in more than 70 companies. Besides several successful trade sales (i.a. amaxa to Lonza and Alantos to Amgen), Earlybird has led six companies to an IPO at four different European exchanges (Interhyp, Tipp24, Wilex, Esmertec, Entelos, and NoemaLife). Further information is available at www.earlybird.com

About SHS Gesellschaft fur Beteiligungsmanagement mbH

SHS Gesellschaft fur Beteiligungsmanagement, founded in Tübingen in 1993, offers finance and advice for innovative companies in new industries, especially in the healthcare and life sciences sectors. With their current investment funds, SHS holds around 120 million euro of investment capital. The chief partners are the former McKinsey consultants Bernhard Schirmers and Reinhilde Spatscheck, and Hubertus Leonhardt, former Corporate Finance Project Leader at Arthur Andersen.

Investors have provided around 50 million euro for the current SHS III Fund. Investors include the European Investment Fund (EIF), through which the SHS Fund receives funding from the ERP-EIF fund of funds and from the 'Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme' (CIP) of the European Union; the KfW Bankengruppe, a pension fund, Fund of Funds as well as various businesspersons, family offices, and the SHS management team itself. SHS has already used this latest fund to invest in several fast-growing technology companies in 2010 and 2011. Further investments are planned.