By Ofer Levi

The fund is the only investor in UltraShape's current financing round. Two previous rounds raised $3.5 million. 
Body-shaping start-up UltraShape has raised $6 million in its just-completed third financing round. The only investor was Israel Seed Partners. Private investors invested $3.5 million in two previous rounds. UltraShape develops non-invasive medical devices for shaping the body. 
UltraShape's Countour 1 device uses ultrasound to cavitate body fat. It is designed to provide an alternative to liposuction surgery. The company says that the global market totals $4.4 billion, divided evenly between the US, Europe, and the rest of the world. Liposuction is considered fairly hazardous, since lung tissue and blood can be suctioned out together with fat. UltraShape says that liposuction is the most commonly used esthetic procedure performed in Western countries, particularly in the US, although it causes the death of 20 out each 100,000 patients undergoing the treatment. 

UltraShape has already conducted clinical trials on hundreds of women in the US, Japan, and Britain. The company, which has 34 employees, believes that the money it has raised will last until the end of 2005. Meanwhile, UltraShape hopes to obtain European CE Mark certification in the second quarter of 2005, and US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval in the fourth quarter of that year. 

"These approvals will enable us to begin selling the product,"explains UltraShape founder and CEO Dr. Yoram Eshel. "Plastic surgeons and dermatologists will be customers for the devices. In contrast to liposuction, which is performed by a surgeon, our device can be operated by a technician under the direction of a surgeon. That is likely to help us a lot in marketing. 

"Globes": What expectations do you have for sales? 

Eshel: "I prefer not to discuss sales expectations. We'll make our sales directly." 

Israel Seed Partners general partner Neil Cohen said that the UltraShape team's Countour 1 was an designed to appeal to an attractive market with great potential for growth. Cohen, who is slated to join UltraShape's board of directors, said that Israel Seed Partners' investment would help UltraShape progress in a competitive market.