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German venture firm Earlybird strengthens team for sharper focus on medical devices

German venture capital firm Earlybird has made two appointments to sharpen its focus on the medical devices sector. Thom Rasche has joined as a venture partner and Graham Lay as a venture advisor.

Earlybird said the hirings were underpinned by its expectation that the medical devices market would experience double-digit growth for the next five years.

Rasche was formerly the managing director of ETHICON Endo-Surgery in Gemany, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, and the vice president Europe of CRITIKON, the inventor of non-invasive automated blood pressure monitoring.

Lay is the general manager of NEXAN, a provider of wireless patient monitoring technologies, and was previously a vice president of research and design for Johnson & Johnson.

Rolf Mathies, a founding partner of Earlybird, said: 'The addition of Thom and Graham brings a wealth of commercial experience to Earlybird. Additionally their deep industry knowledge will be a real asset as we assess the great investment potential in the medical devices market in the near future.'

Earlybird has approximately $300m under management and focuses on IT and healthcare. It has offices in Germany and the US.

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