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BBJ: UMB's Harpoon Medical was snatched up for $100 Million. Here's How it Impacts the School

Monday, December 11, 2017

The University of Maryland, Baltimore gets a piece of the $100 million pie from the acquisition of startup Harpoon Medical Inc., in the form of equity returns and a percentage of profits for every product the company will ultimately sell.

Four-year-old Harpoon Medical Inc., which is developing a medical device for use in minimally invasive heart surgery, has been acquired by California-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. The company will continue to operate in Baltimore, under the Edwards name, and executives and investors could make up to an additional $150 millionover the next 10 years on the deal, pending certain performance marks.

Harpoon's technology was licensed from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, via UM Ventures, a joint research and technology commercialization effort between University of Maryland, Baltimore and University of Maryland, College Park. UM Ventures made the first equity investment in Harpoon several years ago, of about $100,000, and the licensing deal ensures UMB sees part of any new profits.

This deal marks the second-largest exit for any licensed tech coming out of the school in recent years, said Jim Hughes, director of UM Ventures. Beyond equity returns on the exit deal, the organization will ultimately receive a percentage on every sale once the company's medical device makes it to market, Hughes explained.

Click here to read the rest of the story via Baltimore Business Journal.