River Cities Capital Funds invests in Georgia medical technology firm

ATLANTA — River Cities Capital Funds, which has offices in Raleigh, N.C. and Cincinnati, Ohio, is making an investment in EndoChoice, a Georgia-based medical technology firm that focuses on endoscopy products and services.

The amount of the venture capital investment was not disclosed.

EndoChoice, which is based in Atlanta, said it plans to expand its product and service offerings with the new funds.

"Two things attracted us to EndoChoice,” said River Cities’ Rik Vandevenne, a principal with the firm. “The first is a world-class management team that brings leadership experience from GI-focused companies like Given Imaging and Boston Scientific.

“The second is research that confirms market demand for a company that can help [gastrointestinal] departments deal with the pressures of increasing procedures, declining reimbursements, and growing customer and product fragmentation,” he added.

As part of the deal, Vandevenne and Ed McCarthy, a managing partner at River Cities, will join the board at EndoChoice.

"With more than 20 million endoscopy procedures in the U.S. each year, and thousands of products used daily, we have a great opportunity to make our customer's lives much more efficient." said Mark Gilreath, founder and chief executive officer of EndoChoice, in a statement. "We are extremely pleased to partner with River Cities as we accelerate our growth and bring new efficiencies to endoscopy departments throughout the United States."

EndoChoice was founded in 1992.