GE (NYSE: GE), together with OrbiMed Israel and Ornim, Inc., announced today a $20 million investment in Ornim, Inc., a developer of the CerOx monitor that non-invasively monitors blood flow and oxygen saturation in brain and muscle tissue.

OrbiMed is a leading investment firm dedicated to building world-class biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. The investment in Ornim, Inc., is being made through OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, OrbiMed's investment fund in Israel, which focuses on Israeli life science investments.

GE's investment is being made through the GE healthymagination Fund, an equity fund that makes investments in highly promising healthcare technology companies and is jointly managed by GE Capital and GE Healthcare, GE's financial services and healthcare divisions, respectively. In addition to their financial investment, Ornim and GE Healthcare will be exploring development of potential strategic relationship as part of a broader collaboration.

Maintaining adequate blood flow and oxygenation are primary clinical goals for critical care patients. However, today, a full measurement is only achievable using multiple, often invasive devices. There is a strong clinical need to provide accurate, multi-parameter, continuous monitoring of blood flow and oxygenation in the brain that is both non-invasive and cost-effective.

By using near-infrared spectroscopy combined with ultrasound waves, Ornim's CerOx is a United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA)-cleared device that enables clinicians to monitor two critical parameters in adult patients: regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the brain or in a region of skeletal muscle tissue beneath the CerOx sensor and microcirculation blood flow in tissue. It is also the only device that does so in tandem.

The investment was made as part of a Series B financing round that was led by OrbiMed and that also included Agate Medical Investment LP's Agate-MAC Fund. The financing will be used for further development, clinical studies, international marketing and commercialization of Ornim's CerOx monitor. The financial terms of the investment were not disclosed.

"The decision to invest in Ornim was based on the growing realization that there is a crucial need to monitor vital organs (such as the brain) during a variety of medical procedures," said Dr. Nissim Darvish, Senior Managing Director of OrbiMed. "The uniqueness of Ornim's technology results from its ability to monitor in real time oxygen saturation in brain tissue, along with microcirculation blood flow. The potential market of this technology is very large, and the current solutions are not adequate. This potential, along with a very professional and experienced team, could allow the company to become a world leader in its field."

Ornim also announced today the appointment of Mr. Israel Schreiber as the company's new CEO. Mr. Schreiber has more than 20 years of managerial experience in the medical device industry both in Israel and in the United States. He served as the CEO of Itamar Medical and, most recently, as the CEO of ITGI Medical.

"The investment announced today will enable Ornim to accelerate product development and promote the introduction of the CerOx™ monitor to the international market," said Schreiber. "The relationship with GE, a world leader in patient monitoring, alongside OrbiMed, one of the largest healthcare venture capital fund managers, provides important benefits, including an in-depth understanding of the market as well as vast operational and marketing experience."

The investment also is aligned with GE Healthcare's expanding focus on patient monitoring solutions that can improve healthcare globally, as well as GE's broader healthymagination initiative, which focuses on reducing cost, increasing patient access and improving quality in healthcare.

"Ornim's technology is not only innovative but it presents great promise to better monitor patients in a critical care setting, providing additional information to aid clinicians in the care of their patients," said Thierry Leclercq, General Manager, GE Healthcare Systems Life Care Solutions.

"Ornim is Agate-MAC's first investment in an Israeli subsidiary," said Agate-MAC Fund Managing Partner Michel Habib. "We chose to invest because Ornim Medical has developed a market-changing technology that will dramatically improve the ability of the intensivist to monitor the brain condition of patients in critical care procedures, non-invasively."

Ornim plans to launch the CerOx™ monitor - which also has received CE marking - in the U.S. and European markets within the next 18 months.

About Ornim, Inc.

Ornim, Inc., through its fully owned subsidiary Ornim Medical Ltd., is bringing to market the CerOx™ monitor, both FDA-cleared and CE marked device that, using near infrared light and ultrasound waves, continuously, non-invasively and in tandem, monitors two critical parameters in adult patients: regional hemoglobin oxygen saturation in the brain or in regions of skeletal muscle tissue beneath the sensor and microcirculation blood flow in tissue. It is the only solution that offers measurement of this combination. Ornim anticipates that the combined measurement of oxygen saturation and blood flow will become essential during every medical procedure done under general anesthesia, for monitoring brain-injured patients, and during resuscitation. The CerOx monitor is designed for use in a variety of clinical settings including the operating room and the intensive care unit.

Ornim Medical, based in Lod, Israel, was founded in 2004 by Dr. Revital Shechter and Dr. Michal Balberg and is a fully owned subsidiary of Ornim, Inc., a Delaware Corporation. Mr. Israel Schreiber is Ornim Medical's new CEO. Dr. Shechter is the company's president and VP of R&D. Dr. Balberg is the company's chief technology officer and Dr. Moshe Kamar is the company's VP of medical affairs. Its proprietary technology is protected by 5 issued United States patents and numerous worldwide patent applications. www.ornim.com

About OrbiMed

OrbiMed is a leading investment firm dedicated exclusively to the life sciences sector, with approximately $6 billion in assets under management. OrbiMed invests across the entire spectrum of pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies on a worldwide basis. Investments are made through venture capital funds, public equity funds, and other investment vehicles.

Since inception of its venture capital activities in 1993, OrbiMed has partnered with over 100 companies across a wide range of therapeutic categories and stages of development. OrbiMed's investment team includes over 40 experienced investment professionals with offices in New York City, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Shanghai and Mumbai. Recently OrbiMed launched OrbiMed Israel Partners Limited Partnership, a $222 million fund dedicated to Israeli life science investments. As the largest investment firm dedicated to the healthcare sector by net assets under management, OrbiMed seeks to be a capital provider of choice, bringing the global resources required to be an exceptional long term partner for building world-class biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies. www.OrbiMed.com.

About Agate Medical Investments LP

Agate Medical Investments LP is a group of funds founded by Dani Naveh, specialized in providing growth capital to mature Medtech companies. Agate, as one of Israel's leading healthcare investors, has established a leading position in the healthcare VC industry, resulting in quality deal-flow and investor partnerships. Since its formation in late 2007, Agate I has invested in 9 promising companies. Agate II was established in February 2012, for Korea-Israel MedTech investments, under partnership in the MAC fund. www.agate-invest.com

About the GE healthymagination Fund

The GE healthymagination Fund is part of GE's $6 billion healthymagination initiative, a global commitment to deliver better healthcare to more people at lower cost. The Fund targets three broad areas for investment: Broad-based diagnostics, Healthcare Information Technology, and Life Sciences. The Fund draws on capabilities from across GE Healthcare, GE Capital and GE Global Research, and has a global footprint. For further information about the fund, visit www.healthymaginationfund.com.

About GE Capital

GE Capital offers consumers and businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services. For more information, visit www.gecapital.com or follow company news via Twitter (@GECapital).

About GE Healthcare

GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.

Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com.