SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, APRIL 24, 2012--HourGlass Technologies CEO and Co-Founder Darin Buxbaum, a biomedical entrepreneur, is asked regularly to speak to business groups—not about his game-changing, paradigm-shifting innovation that has the potential to save or extend the lives of millions of obese people—but about how he got the capital to expand and grow his pre-revenue company in such challenging economic times.  Equity capital and a $300,000 equipment lease will enable Buxbaum’s company to enter clinical trials and launch the TRIM^TM System, a non-surgical obesity treatment. “We raised our largest round of venture capital in 2010 (including blue chip investors) when very few clinical-stage medical device companies were being funded,” he said.  Then, at the end of last year, he was surprised by the flexibility of an independent funding source that offered him a 10-year venture lease so he could preserve his working capital while still acquiring manufacturing equipment and expanding research and development. The TRIM^TM System may achieve better results for patients than gastric banding surgery, and is incision free and more cost effective, said Buxbaum.  Even with such a strong business concept, he did not expect the flexible terms offered by Fountain Partners, of San Francisco, CA. Fountain Partners President and Founder Tom Carter said HourGlass fit into his company’s sweet spot.  “Our proposal was not what our client anticipated we would offer, but we realized that what they really needed was time—more time to test and install equipment at their facility, time for trials and commercialization.” The target market for the TRIM^TM System is composed of 40 million patients who are morbidly obese (100 pounds or more overweight). Only 2 percent of them will seek the surgical band or gastric-bypass surgery because they are afraid of the surgery itself or its prohibitive cost ($15,000-$20,000 estimated). HourGlass Technologies needed production equipment for parts to create the TRIM^TM System and perform more testing; if it had not had been for Fountain Partners’ creative solution, Buxbaum said he would have had to outsource the manufacturing, which would have taken longer and afforded him less quality control over the production. All of the manufacturing, as well as continuing research and development, is being conducted in HourGlass Technologies’ own 12,000-square-foot facility in Redwood City, California, where 20 people are employed. “It’s rare for anyone to offer more than three-year terms to small, unknown pre-revenue-stage companies,” said Buxbaum, who had approached other funding sources before meeting Carter through a financial services intermediary. Buxbaum said the new TRIM^TM System, inserted orally, will restrict the size of the stomach, creating a sensation of being full, and it can be kept in place for a long time. “Everyone wins,” said Buxbaum, who pointed out that there are no comparable medical procedures to the TRIM^TM System that can successfully lower the cost of healthcare in so many areas. Patients not only lose weight but also gain freedom from other medical problems that often stem from obesity, such as sleep apnea, hypertension, diabetes, and back pain. He said the TRIM^TM System will be half the cost of surgical solutions. But it wasn’t just the unique idea that got him the funding needed to acquire manufacturing equipment.  Both Buxbaum and Carter spoke to the importance of the relationship they created. “We had a face-to-face meeting,” said Buxbaum of his first encounter with Carter. That was his first surprise, he said, because most other financial service companies preferred only phone discussions. Carter said the customer relationship has always been important in the kind of transactions Fountain Partners does and that for entrepreneurs, having a financial partner that they can count on for attention and follow through has been at a “significant premium” in the wake of the recent financial crisis. Fountain Partners brings creative, problem-solving solutions to companies that are in sectors where there are emerging new technologies or significant demand.  “We don’t take a cookie-cutter approach,” Carter said, “We start by understanding the client’s business and overall financial needs.” “What the market demands is always evolving,” said Carter, who has other funding clients in healthcare, energy, and packaging.  “Most of the companies we deal with have capital equipment as a key component of their business and have innovated in a way that is having an   impact.   Sometimes that impact is limited to a specific market and sometimes it extends more broadly to society.” He said risk is real and present with each financing and that the challenge is to embrace that risk taking into account the client’s plans and how capital equipment relates to the business model.  Carter said he and his team derive the greatest joy and satisfaction from being able to understand the client’s business and possible fit for a financing relationship as efficiently as possible. “I just wanted to minimize my cost of capital with a low interest rate and maximize my time to pay it off,” said Buxbaum, “but I’m glad and grateful Tom and I took the time to get to know each other.” “If we make decisions based only on the obvious, such as ‘this company is pre-revenue’ then we deprive ourselves and our clients of our capability and positioning in the market,” said Carter. ### Media Contact On behalf of Fountain Partners Susan Carol 540-361-1274 sca@scapr.com