BOCA RATON, FL – Watermark Medical Inc., a  medical products and services company servicing  patients suffering from sleep-disordered breathing, has closed a $6 million equity investment from Ballast Point Ventures, extending the round led by CA Technologies earlier in 2010.

Ballast Point Ventures will hold a minority stake in Watermark Medical and one seat on Watermark’s board along with CA Technologies (NASDAQ: CA), who led the round with a $15 million dollar investment earlier this year.

Watermark Medical has developed a web-based sleep diagnostics product focused on Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA.)

“We made this investment because Watermark Medical has best in class technology along with a management team in whom we are confident will transform the emerging sleep industry,” said Dick Brandewie, managing partner of Ballast Point Ventures. “Our successful investment history with Sean Heyniger and his team, with their innovative healthcare expertise, presents an exciting opportunity for our firm.”

Through successful deployment of its home sleep testing platform, Watermark Medical has become an industry-recognized expert in cloud platform medical services. As a result, medical practitioners can easily manage, aggregate and access critical diagnostic and historical patient information.

“With this additional capital from Ballast Point Ventures we will further the deployment of our advanced, web-based technology platform,” said Sean Heyniger, CEO of Watermark Medical.

“As our technology is increasingly incorporated into the day-to-day functions of the medical community, benefits for the physician and patient will include an overall reduction in health costs and increased accuracy in tracking long term health and wellness of patients.”

OSA is a major contributor to the country’s poor health, causing millions of Americans to be plagued by diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and atrial fibrillation, the leading cause of stroke, which together cost the health care system billions of dollars each year.

OSA is a huge public health risk, with 250,000 people a day falling asleep while driving a motor vehicle, according to the Harvard Medical School Sleep Division. Clinical data proves that when left untreated OSA causes reaction time to drop to levels equivalent to a driver who is driving under the influence. The epidemic of sleep-deprivation is a public safety issue, according to the Institute of Medicine.