2014 MedTech Innovator Award Semi-Finalists Announced. $175,000 in Awards Available to Winning Teams
TUCSON, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–RCT Ventures announced the selection of the Top 10 semi-finalists in the 2014 MedTech Innovator competition, a medical device-focused venture competition that allows the audience to choose the winner. The Top 10 will now move on to compete live on-stage on June 12th for $175,000 in total prizes provided by RCT Ventures, and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC) and Janssen Labs during the 22nd Annual Medical Device Conference, hosted by law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR).
“In today’s lean start-up environment, this prize could be enough to allow the winner to bridge the funding gap and achieve a milestone that can help them secure a larger funding round or critical industry partnership.”
RCT Ventures is producing the competition and contributed a $100,000 cash prize for the winner. “Our goal with MedTech Innovator is to identify outstanding early-stage MedTech opportunities and help them succeed,” said Paul Grand, Managing Director for RCT Ventures. “In today’s lean start-up environment, this prize could be enough to allow the winner to bridge the funding gap and achieve a milestone that can help them secure a larger funding round or critical industry partnership.”
In addition to RCT’s $100,000 contribution, the overall prize package is being increased by contributions from several of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies including an additional $50,000 in awards and state-of-the-art lab space to qualified winning teams. Certain qualified winners will be offered an added $25,000 in funding and entry to the Janssen Labs community valued at $25,000.
The 10 semi-finalists were selected by a panel of VC judges from a pool of 267 submissions. The panel of investor judges includes Christopher P. Martin, President, RCT Ventures; Ned Scheetz, Founder & Managing Director, Aphelion Capital; James Dreher, Managing Partner, Option 3; and Brad H. Vale, Ph.D., D.V.M., Head, JJDC. The event’s Master of Ceremonies is Paul Grand, Managing Director, RCT Ventures.
The final phase of the competition will take place live on stage during the 22nd Annual Medical Device Conference, hosted by law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (WSGR) on June 12, 2014, which is expected to be attended by more than 600 industry professionals in San Francisco. “In the more than two decades that we’ve been holding the Medical Device Conference, we’ve seen it grow from a small gathering of enthusiastic participants to one of the premier annual events in the industry. That makes it the perfect setting in which to unveil the winner of the MedTech Innovator competition, which is a dynamic and engrossing contest that adds another element of excitement to the conference,” said WSGR’s Casey McGlynn.
The MedTech Innovator Top 10 Semi-finalists in alphabetical order are:
AUM Cardiovascular, Inc. – a non-invasive, handheld cardiovascular diagnostic device
AventaMed Ltd. – a single-use, in-office ear tube placement device
BeckerSmith Medical, Inc. – an external Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) monitoring system
BrainStem Biometrics – a non-invasive, low-cost disposable brainstem activity sensor system
ChemoFilter – an endovascular device that removes chemotherapy from the blood, reducing toxicity
CystoSure / Emmy Medical – making cystoscopy simple, safe and predictable
Fibralign Corporation – a thread-like scaffold designed to support new lymphatic and vascular vessel formation and address Secondary Lymphedema
FLI USA Inc. – the Francis Lamont Innovations Orthopedic Table Extension for Direct Anterior Hip Surgery
LensGen, Inc. – an accommodative Intraocular lens for restoring youthful vision.
TaMI (Tampa Medical Innovations) – a class I single-use device to eliminate blood pathogen cross-contamination from an IV
For more information on the 2014 MedTech Innovator competition, see http://www.medtechinnovator.com/wsgr2014
About RCT Ventures
RCT Ventures is an early-stage biomedical investment program of Tucson, Ariz.-based Research Corporation Technologies Inc. To learn more about RCT and RCT Ventures, see www.rctech.com. To submit opportunities for investment, please contact Paul Grand at pgrand@rctech.com.
Contacts
RCT Ventures
Paul Grand, Managing Director
(310) 824-1700 (direct)
(310) 709-3750 (cell)
pgrand@rctech.com