For decades, cancer treatment has relied on a combination of chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and invasive surgery—approaches that have saved millions of lives but often come with significant side effects. HistoSonics, a Plymouth, Minnesota–based company, is aiming to change that paradigm with a breakthrough technology called histotripsy: a non-invasive therapy that uses focused sound waves to liquefy and destroy targeted tissue, including tumours, at the sub-cellular level.
Histotripsy originated from research at the University of Michigan, and HistoSonics was founded in 2009 with the goal of advancing it through clinical trials and into real-world use. “When I first learned about histotripsy, it sounded like something out of Star Trek,” says Mike Blue, a health tech sector veteran who was brought in as CEO in 2017 to help bring the technology to market. “The science was compelling, but there were real questions about whether it could move beyond the research stage. My focus was on developing a product configuration that could actually be deployed in hospitals to treat patients.”
That same combination of promise and uncertainty caught the attention of Gerry Brunk, managing partner at Lumira Ventures, a Canadian-based health care venture capital firm that manages $700 million across North America, focusing on biotech and medical devices. Brunk had been following HistoSonics since 2010, building a relationship with its founders and offering mentorship and strategic guidance as he evaluated a potential investment. For him and the Lumira team, HistoSonics stood out as something rare. “I came to believe this was a generational innovation in healthcare,” he says. “They weren’t just improving existing treatments—they were creating an entirely new category of truly non-invasive surgery.”
Taking Breakthrough Science to Commercial Application
The opportunity for Lumira to invest came in 2019, when HistoSonics sought to raise capital to conduct clinical trials and seek regulatory approval for the first application of its platform technology. When it came to finding new partners, Blue wasn’t interested in simply bringing in new capital. “We wanted a top-tier firm that could also elevate the company’s profile,” he says. “What stood out about Lumira was not just its brand, but the depth of its network across physicians, hospitals, industry players and investors. That level of connectivity was invaluable.”
That same year, Lumira co-led HistoSonics’s US$54 million Series C financing, with Brunk playing a key role in assembling a strong syndicate that included strategic investors Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Varian Medical Systems (now Siemens Healthineers). “Companies like HistoSonics that are based in regions outside the typical focus of the coastal venture capital firms often face greater challenges raising capital,” says Brunk. “Our role was to connect them with the right investors and help validate the opportunity. Bringing in respected strategic partners reinforced that this was a company worth paying attention to.” Lumira also participated in three subsequent rounds of financing as the company successfully scaled.
With new funding and institutional backing in place, HistoSonics accelerated its transition from clinical concept to practical application. Blue and his team developed the Edison System, a non-invasive platform designed to deliver histotripsy in a highly automated way. The goal was to reduce variability in treatment by minimizing reliance on operator skill, allowing physicians to deliver a consistent standard of care—whether in a rural community hospital or a major urban health centre.
At the same time, the company advanced its clinical program, using its funding to support multiple trials and build the evidence required for regulatory approval. That work culminated in a landmark milestone in late 2023, when HistoSonics received FDA clearance for the use of its Edison System in the treatment of liver tumours, paving the way for broader commercialization.
A Defining Deal in a New Era of Cancer Treatment
After securing FDA clearance and launching commercial sales, HistoSonics reached a pivotal moment in its evolution. The question was how to best support its next phase: expanding into new clinical applications and global markets. The standard options were to go public or partner with a major strategic group. With guidance from Lumira, the company chose a slightly different approach, one that provided investors a path to immediate liquidity while also allowing them to participate in the company’s future value creation, all with a fresh group of sophisticated capital partners to support its growth.
In August 2025, HistoSonics completed a US$2.25 billion majority stake acquisition transaction led by a consortium of investors that included Wellington Management, K5 Global and Bezos Expeditions. The outcome resulted in Lumira’s highest returning investment in its history, and earned the firm the 2026 Canadian VC Global Dealmaker Award.
“Being backed by investors who have built businesses that transform entire sectors has elevated how HistoSonics is positioned, and their vision is to take us beyond a traditional medical device company into something much broader in its impact,” says Blue. “It was an enormous decision, but one made with a great deal of thoughtfulness. Gerry and the Lumira team asked the right questions and ultimately gave us their full support. Without that, we would be a very different company today. In my view, this was the best possible outcome—for the technology, our employees and our investors.”
The results have been immediate. Within two years of introducing its Edison System, HistoSonics has sold more than 140 systems globally, reached an annual revenue run rate exceeding US$150 million and treated more than 5,000 patients across 100 medical centres—marking one of the fastest-ever commercial launches in the medical device sector.
For Brunk, the outcome underscores the importance of strategy paired with disciplined execution. “Great technology alone isn’t enough,” he says. “There are many examples in the history of startups where great tech never sees the light of day because it didn’t have the right team to focus on the right clinical need and commercial application to bring it to market. Mike and the HistoSonics team have built something that has the potential to transform medicine, and we’re proud to continue supporting that journey.”
