RF Surgical Systems, Inc. Completes $12 Million in Funding Led by Menlo Ventures

BELLEVUE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--RF Surgical Systems, Inc. announced that it has recently raised $8.2 million in a Series A round of venture capital financing from Menlo Ventures and Stanford University. Together with previous private placement investments, the company has raised over $12 million during 2008 and over $20 million since its inception. The Company intends to use the new capital to support the expansion of its RF Surgical Detection System™ into acute care hospitals throughout the country.

The Company has developed and is marketing the patented FDA and CE approved RF Surgical Detection System™, the first and only surgical sponge detection system in commercial use. The system scans for and signals an alert if any RF Detect™ tagged surgical sponges, gauze or towels remain in a patient prior to surgical closing procedures. Retained surgical sponges are one of the leading patient safety concerns in hospitals—occurring at an estimated rate of 1 in every 1,000 to 1,500 intra-abdominal surgeries, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. The RF Surgical Detection System™ is currently the market leader and is in use in over 30 hospitals across the United States and is in a market test phase in several hospitals in Europe.

About RF Surgical Systems, Inc.

RF Surgical Systems is a privately held medical device company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, and maintains engineering R & D facilities in San Diego, California. The concept of the RF Surgical Detection System originated over ten years ago by Dr. Jeffrey Port, a Thoracic surgeon, and Mr. William Blair, an electrical engineer. For more information, please visit www.rfsurg.com.

About Menlo Ventures

Menlo Ventures provides long-term capital and management support to early-stage and emerging-growth companies. Menlo is one of Silicon Valley's oldest venture capital partnerships, and has organized and managed ten venture funds since their inception in 1976. With over $4 billion under management, and a team with over two hundred years of collective experience in technology, marketing, sales and general management, they have the resources to support the most ambitious of projects. www.menloventures.com