MedTech World Bay Area, California

Paul Grand is an investor and the founder and CEO of MedTech Innovator, the largest and most impactful accelerator of medical technology and biotools in the world. The global nonprofit seeks to improve human health by accelerating the growth of startups poised to transform healthcare. Paul interacts with thousands of medical technology startups each year as part of MedTech Innovator’s rigorous review process to identify the most promising early-stage companies in the world. With a 5% acceptance rate, MedTech Innovator’s 717 graduates have collectively brought over 360 products to market, raised over $9B in follow-on funding post-graduation, and improved millions of lives. Prior to MedTech Innovator, Paul was a serial entrepreneur starting companies in the biopharma, medtech, and tech industries. He became a venture capitalist in 2005, when he joined RCT Ventures, an early-stage life science investor where he served as Managing Director. At RCT, Paul focused on medtech investments and sourcing innovation. He founded MedTech Innovator as a program within RCT Ventures in 2013 and left to run MedTech Innovator as a stand-alone company with RCT’s support in 2016. Paul became a member of the RCT Board of Directors in 2023.

Chris is a former C-suite executive with over 35 years of global experience in medtech. He has held top leadership roles at large multinational corporations as well as multiple board positions, and is well versed in early-stage company development. Chris is currently a Managing Partner at Tramway Ventures, a New-Mexico based VC focused on medtech, biotech, and health tech innovation investments in the southwest. Chris is based in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Rich is a parter at Gilde, a growth stage transatlantic healthtech investor. Prior to Gilde, Rich was the Global Head of Ventures at Philips, where he was responsible for creating, launching and running the venture program.  Rich began the venture phase of his career at Mass General Brigham where he was a member of the Partners Innovation Fund.  

Dr. Gershony is an internationally recognized interventional cardiologist and serial MedTech entrepreneur. He was the Founder of Vascular Solutions, helped lead a successful IPO in 2000, and served as the company’s Chief Medical Officer and Board member. He subsequently co-founded AngioScore which developed novel angioplasty scoring balloons and served as Chief Medical Office and Board member until its acquisition in 2014. Dr. Gershony is a Founding General Partner at BayMed Venture Partners which is based in San Francisco. He currently serves on the boards of multiple medical device companies and is a frequent speaker at investor conferences

Kristen Mittal, Co-founder & CEO of Mittal Consulting, holds biomedical engineering degrees and is RAC and PMP certified. As the Co-founder of Mittal Consulting, she guides medical device startups from concept to commercialization, specializing in regulatory strategy, submissions and working with complex medical devices which often goes through FDA DeNovo or Breakthrough pathways. Kristen partners with leading medtech incubators and universities, shaping future innovators through education and hands-on regulatory expertise.

Christian Espinosa founded Blue Goat Cyber and is a global leader in medical device cybersecurity. With 30+ years of experience, he empowers manufacturers to achieve FDA, EU MDR, and international compliance while safeguarding patient safety. A bestselling author and Ironman triathlete, Christian blends expertise and determination to tackle complex cybersecurity challenges.

Mridul is the Co-Founder of Mittal Consulting, bringing deep expertise in client relations, business development, and company strategy. With a background in product and customer facing applications, he combines cross-industry insight with a passion for entrepreneurship and marketing. A natural connector and forward-thinker, Mridul continues to elevate the firm’s presence through meaningful partnerships and market-focused innovation

Former CEO and Founder of nVision Medical (acquired by Boston Scientific for $275M), which developed a new method to detect ovarian cancer. Board member at private and public life sciences companies. Former General Partner at Y Combinator, leading their healthcare practice. Author of Without a Doubt: How to Go from Underrated to Unbeatable.

Eric C. Ulchaker is Managing Partner at SSVP, a healthcare-focused investor network. He brings over a decade of startup and venture experience, including roles at Notre Dame’s Pit Road Fund and the 1842 Fund. He’s an active angel investor and graduate of Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Case Western Reserve.

Accomplished venture capital investor with a proven track record. Focusing on AI + Life Science/Healthcare. Extensive network spans across senior executives, academic leaders and syndicate investors. Before her venture capital career, Qing was a physician at Singapore General Hospital and a researcher at Broad Institute. She holds M.D. at Tsinghua University and MBA from Columbia Business School.

Jeff is a MedTech researcher, inventor, and award-winning product developer with 20+ years of experience translating technologies into market-ready solutions. He’s an exited founder, PI on NIH/DoD grants, holds 16+ patents, and board member for several companies/organizations. Jeff serves as EIR at Northeastern, Dartmouth, and MassChallenge, actively supporting early-stage companies.

Rhiya Pau is a Principal at the Million Lives Fund focused on cardiovascular devices and a Board Member at Corflow Therapeutics. She previously worked at the UK’s Development Finance Institution investing in healthcare services companies across Africa and South Asia.

Akhilesh is a Partner at MVM, where he invests in commercial-stage healthcare companies. Prior to MVM, he practiced medicine as a resident at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital. His research on healthcare systems has led to more than a dozen scientific publications and 50 articles in the popular press, including in The Washington Post and Scientific American. Akhilesh received an MD at the Stanford School of Medicine and an MBA at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He also holds an AB from Harvard University.

Tyler is CEO & Co-founder of Madison Scientific (MadSci), a UW-Madison spin-out company developing a Smart Shunt for hydrocephalus. He previously co-founded and currently serves as President and a board member of Innoblative, a cancer ablation company spun out of Northwestern. Also, he is also on the board of EDGe Surgical, a revenue-stage Orthopaedic and Spine medical device company. He invests in MedTech as an angel investor and on behalf of his family office. Tyler is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University where he teaches NUvention Medical, Northwestern’s BioDesign curriculum.

Laura Melahn is the founder of Meadow Valley Partners, an investment firm focused on AI and health. She spent over a decade as a partner at Google Ventures, leading investments in consumer and health companies. Previously, she launched global products at Google and conducted biochemistry research at Oxford. She holds a degree in molecular biology from Princeton University.

Dr. Ruchi Dana is a Partner at MFV Partners, where she leads healthcare deeptech investments. A medical doctor and Stanford MBA, she serves on several corporate, nonprofit, and academic boards including the Cybersecurity Advisory Board at CSU Chico. She holds patents in robotic surgery and has been recognized by Forbes (Healthcare Leader 2024) and Campden Wealth for her leadership.

Chris has 25+ years of experience in advancing biomedical technologies. He is Regional Innovation Officer for the MDM2 Consortium in Phoenix and Managing Director of Xcellerant Ventures, Arizona’s HealthTech-focused VC fund. A serial entrepreneur and angel investor, Chris has founded and led companies in oncology, cognitive computing, and personalized medicine. He actively supports startups through Yoo & Co Accelerators and mentorship at ASU, where he also teaches molecular diagnostics, bioengineering, and entrepreneurship. Chris holds a Ph.D. from Yale, completed a postdoc at UC Berkeley, and earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. He has also worked with Cisco, Oracle, and IBM on early personalized medicine strategies.

Dr. Ella Li is Founding Partner of H7 BioCapital, leading healthcare investments and acceleration. She is an advisor of Pegasus Tech Ventures and is a Venture Partner at Network VC. Formerly CEO of ZGC Capital, she’s backed top-tier funds. A Harvard-trained scientist, she has 1000+ citations across leading journals in life sciences.

Omid Akhavan is a Managing Director at Anthro Ventures, where he leads healthcare investments across MedTech, Health Tech and Diagnostics. Previously, he was a Principal at MVM Partners and Director of Strategy and Business Development at Becton Dickinson. Prior to that, Omid was a management consultant at Monitor Deloitte in the Life Sciences and Healthcare team. Omid holds a Masters in Bioengineering from the Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelors in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Virginia.

Rachna Dayal is an outcomes-based executive and has lived/worked across multiple continents. Her experiences span corporations like Philips, Johnson & Johnson as well as startups and Venture Capital. Currently Ms. Dayal is Managing Partner for Sugati Ventures a Healthcare VC firm she founded, investing in early-stage Medical Devices and HealthTech startups. She is also serving as a member of Advisory board for startups and co-founder of a Think Tank: AI Enabled Health.

Since 1986, Anne DeGheest pioneered the HealthTech space as a healthcare executive, an entrepreneur, angel investor, corporate advisor and mentor capitalist. Anne founded in 2010 HealthTech Capital , a group of private investors and venture capitalists. She is also the founder of MedStars, her advisory firm. Her life science portfolio companies have grown into major disruptive companies that have generated over $20 billion in market value creation.

Pedro is Investor/Board Member at Praava Health, Ever Medical Technologies, Wander Health, Institute For International Medicine. He is a TED speaker, entrepreneur, investor, and author, founded SmileyGo (2014), indexing 1.5M NGOs, and Pan Peru USA (2018), empowering 10,000 children. His books, *Differences That Make a Difference* and *The Real ROI*, won acclaim. Vice Chairman of Espinoza Group, he’s a HITEC 100 awardee, NextGen 30 Under 30 Presented by Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley Business Journal Latin Leadership Honoree and Silicon Valley 40 under 40 Presented by BMO.

Patrik Schmidle is a dynamic entrepreneur and leader with a track record of several exits across multiple industries. Inspired by personal experience, he founded CARI Health to address the opioid crisis through innovative medication monitoring. He holds degrees from Weber State University and the University of San Diego.

Founding Partner at MedTech Advantage Fund, a stage-agnostic fund that invests exclusively in graduates from the MedTech Innovator accelerator.  Previously, Patrick was Managing Director at CT Innovations where he spent 13 years working with early-stage entrepreneurs across a broad array of industries including medtech, clean tech, and enterprise software.

Ken Nelson currently serves as partner in the Medtech Advantage Fund, which has an exclusive partnership with MedTech Innovator, the largest MedTech and digital health startup accelerator globally. In addition, he serves as Chairman of the Board for CardiaCare, and is an active board member for HeartX, HeartBeam (NASDAQ: BEAT), and a handful of other disruptive cardiac digital health and MedTech startups.
Over the past 10 years, Ken has led commercial efforts for disruptive technologies in the digital health, wearables, and cardiac remote patient monitoring industries, playing a significant role in building the teams, cultures, and infrastructures for 3 of the top 4 market share players in cardiac digital health and remote patient monitoring, including #1 (BioTelemetry as VP of Sales), #2 (iRhythm as VP of Sales & Marketing), and #4 (Bardy Diagnostics as Chief Commercial Officer). Most recently, he served as Head of Digital Health, Diagnostics, and Monitoring for Biotronik, a leading cardiac digital health and medical device company.
Overall, he is a 20 year digital health, medical device, and remote patient monitoring executive and innovator with successful senior leadership experience ranging from a Fortune 500 company (Boston Scientific) to a #1 market share leading medium sized company (Biotelemetry, acquisition by Philips for $2.8 Billion announced in December ’20) to 3 start-ups, 1 of which eventually led to an extremely successful IPO (iRhythm) and another which was just acquired by HillRom/ Baxter (Bardy Diagnostics) in August 2021 for $400M+ after milestone payments.
Ken earned a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University, is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy, and resides in Dallas, TX with his wife and 3 children.

Mariel is a medtech innovator and startup specialist with Beacon Launch Partners, combining expertise in engineering, clinical research, and product management to bridge from conceptualization to commercialization. She has 25 years of experience helping founders develop and launch first-generation products in cardiology, neurosurgery, general surgery, critical care, and digital healthcare.

Dr. Daniel Kraft is a Stanford and Harvard-trained physician-scientist, inventor, and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience driving innovation across medicine and healthcare. He is the founder of NextMed Health, Digital.Health, and Continuum Health Ventures. An Aspen Health Innovation Fellow and Kauffman Fellow, he also chairs the XPRIZE Health Alliance. Dr. Kraft has delivered four TED Talks exploring the future of health, medicine, and the impact of rapidly emerging technologies.

Manish is a practicing cardiologist/cardiac electrophysiologist in San Diego. Manish co-founded Geneva Health Solutions, which established the cloud-based software/service model for remote care of implantable cardiac device patients. Geneva was acquired by BioTelemetry  (2019), BioTelemetry by Philips (2021). Manish serves as CMO of the Philips Ambulatory Monitoring and Diagnostics division.

Achal is a Vice President at WestBridge Capital, an $8B+ fund. He specializes in healthcare software and AI investments, backing companies like Innovaccer. Typical check sizes range from $20-100M+ at early-growth stages, enabling them to be the largest shareholder. Achal spends significant time advising C-suite executives of portfolio companies.

Ivanny Franklin brings a dual perspective to the MedTech investment landscape, combining deep clinical strategy expertise with hands-on venture capital experience. As Managing Partner at MedSight Capital and Global Clinical Strategy Director at NAMSA, she specializes in guiding startups through the complexities of clinical evidence generation, regulatory strategy, and reimbursement pathways, globally.

Laura is a globally experienced strategist who spent seven years shaping healthcare policy at the Royal College of Physicians in London. As a Non-Executive Director and advisor, she has supported charities worldwide—including here in Silicon Valley—focused on equity in healthcare, education, and communities. Her international outlook drives Carecircle’s unique person-centric approach and its mission to improve health equity.

Eric Heinz is Founder and Managing Partner of Heinz Ventures.  As an inventor, entrepreneur, advisor and board member, Eric partners with technical founders to build value from concept to exit. Eric holds an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and a BS in Bioengineering from The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

David N. Constantine is the Co-Founder & CEO of Juniper Biomedical. With 20+ years in MedTech across large multinational corporations and early phase startups, David has led efforts in multiple clinical and technical domains. He has co-founded several companies and raised capital from angel, family office and VC sources in the US and abroad.

Our Clamp+Cinch system offers reliability, ease of use, and efficiency for surgical plantar plate repair.

Engineered to simplify provisional reduction, the most critical and time-intensive phase of fracture repair surgery.

Borns utilizes AI and robotics to tackle the most challenging surgeries through non-invasive procedures.

Crely is a digital health company that delivers real-time, predictive insight into post-operative infections through the only wearable that monitors deep inside the surgical wound.

Keita has over 20 years of experience in the medical device sector, specializing in sales, marketing, and business development roles. In 2021, Keita and Susumu, the inventor of the technology and a former researcher at Kyushu University, co-founded F.MED to commercialize robot-assisted microsurgery system.

Transforming orthopedic and trauma surgeries through next-gen bioresorbable magnesium implant technology.

Streamlined ortho fixation recovery via the first absorbable metal implants to match titanium performance with safe optimal absorption.

MAXM Skate is a global digital and tangible rehabilitation device for recovery from knee procedures and injuries.

World’s first robotic automated hand-held one-click applicator for tympanostomy tube surgery to treat middle ear fluid/ pressure dysfunction.

QMT Devices activate muscle-mitochondria without physical strain, bringing exercise’s medicine benefits to those who cannot.

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Elevating care standards with AI-enabled imaging solutions for POC spinal needle interventions and musculoskeletal trauma

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EsoGLOVE is one of the world’s lightest hand rehab devices offering top functionality, comfort and more than 40 exercises.

The RapidFix is the first ever soft tissue staple made of suture material providing industry leading efficiency and outcomes.

A two-part needle system that reduces steps and strengthens stitching in orthopedic soft tissue surgery.

30-day wound care platform (capable of sustained drug delivery) for treatment of painful and difficult to dress wounds.

MatriFlex is a bioresorbable skin substitute with scar prevention technology.

Brijjit (BP100, BP75) are non-invasive devices reducing tissue tension, supporting healing, wound care, and scar therapy.

BoneTape is a bioresorbable fracture fixation technology for improving facial fracture outcomes.

Absorbable implants to restore, not replace the hip – a solution for active patients too young for a total hip replacement.

World’s most advanced polymer wound dressing that promotes healing with inherent anti-inflammatory qualities.

HAPPE makes bone-integrating implants that look and act like a biologic.

We Make Fat Amazing.

Smart and non-invasive artificial larynx devices generating a natural-sounding voice for individuals experiencing voice loss.

MedCu’s wound healing dressings release copper ions that stimulate production of new blood capillaries and protect the wound from infraction.

Delivering personalized implants and surgical solutions through 3D printing, biomechanics, and AI—improving precision, speed, and outcomes.

Injectable hydrogel to treat degenerative disc disease in a percutaneous, outpatient procedure.

Lipogenyx™ is a breakthrough fat grafting technology based on a proprietary peptide hydrogel platform.

The MAP Wound Matrix is a flowable integrative surgical matrix that builds native tissue volume over bone in complex surgical sites, reducing time to graft-ready and improving surgical outcomes.

Accurate yet Affordable MRD monitoring for Cancer Recurrence.

ARTICOR is the next generation 3D platform for planning and intra-operative navigation of structural heart interventions.

Best-in-class, non-invasive (urine-based) diagnostic for better detection and management of bladder cancer.

Lab on a chip technology enabling 90% of the most commonly ordered lab tests in under 30 minutes at the point of care.

Motorized and AI-based solution applicable flexible gastrointestinal endoscopy system for easy and precise diagnosis.

RapidPlate enables clinicians to make appropriate antibiotic treatment decisions in minutes rather than days, reducing AMR.

First OSHA complaint device to manually irrigate and remove bloody urine from the bladder reducing exposure risk and cost.

RadioClash is developing an interventional oncology surgical ablation platform for electro-immunotherapy.

PCR-based prenatal testing to expand access for all.

Bringing a predictive healthcare system through an AI powered at home urine screening platform for chronic health conditions.

Teal Health allows women to comfortably, conveniently, and privately screen for cervical cancer from home.

New innovative patented indwelling urinary catheter aimed at transforming the lives of tens of millions of patients globally.

World First Fully-Integrated Robotic Ultrasound System Powered by AI for Transperineal Prostate Fusion Biopsy.

Maternal aRMOR offers non-invasive, real-time monitoring to detect early hemorrhage, empowering healthcare providers to save lives, enhance workflow efficiencies, and reduce the cost of care.

Australis Scientific A smart patch delivering effective, minimally invasive neuromodulation therapy for overactive bladder from clinic to home.

Belun transforms sleep health management landscape through empowering sleep apnea diagnosis and treatment at home by AI.

A comprehensive remote monitoring platform combining wearable and data analytic for at-risk pregnancy.

Connected Consumables bring data where you need staff today, automizing manual steps for safer and efficient cancer therapy.

EpiWatch is an FDA-cleared continuous seizure monitor (SaMD) that detects and alerts for tonic clonic seizures on an Apple Watch platform.

Redefining diabetes care with real-time multi-metabolite monitoring—powering personalized therapy through unprecedented physiological insight.

KeyReply is an advanced Agentic AI platform that powers scalable automation and intelligent patient engagement across 65% of Singapore’s hospitals and a growing network of leading health systems worldwide.

kegg is a medical-grade fertility device that gives users accurate and personalized fertility sensing through cervical mucus.

Setting a new standard in chronic disease care with the first data-driven, closed-loop enteral nutrition system—delivering real-time insights, unmatched mobility, and personalized nutrition to improve outcomes, lower malnutrition costs, and enable smarter clinical decisions.

Self-administered & ultra-portable AR ocular screening device – ETDRS Visual Acuity, Glaucoma, Diabetic Retinopathy, Age Macular Degeneration, Cataract tests.

Advanced ECG wearable with the ability to provide 30+ hospital grade indications in under ten minutes for less than $30.

Vedette is a novel non-invasive continuous monitoring device for detection of PIV extravasation in preterm and term infants.

A precision coaching and Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) platform integrated into and transforming prenatal care—boosting outcomes, enhancing patient engagement, all while generating up to $1,000/month in new recurring revenue per patient.

A novel, noninvasive fetal EEG technology that detects real-time fetal distress to improve outcomes for mother and baby.

A transformational aspiration catheter with nature inspired design to enhance thrombectomy rates and improve patient outcome.

Subdermal sensor that remotely monitors blood flow to anticipate vascular complications in Peripheral Arterial Disease patients.

Continuous Blood Flow Monitor in ear to help people manage symptoms from chronic conditions like dizziness, fatigue, and fainting.

Advancing neurovascular care through robotic technologies.

EASEE® is a minimally invasive, yet fully implantable device to help manage drug-resistant focal epilepsy.

The first treatment for post-stroke paralysis to restore the brain’s ability to directly control a patient’s own movement.

SynchNeuro has developed the first non-invasive glucose monitor that uses brain signals to read and predict glucose levels.

Devices to clear brain clots faster and more effectively.

VeraBIND™ platform is used for early and accurate disease detection of Alzheimer’s and other diseases.

VesselSens develops smart implantable sensors to early-diagnose blood vessel occlusion (re-clogging) after e.g. the stent implantation.

A minimally-invasive catheter that safely diffuses oxygen directly into the bloodstream in patients with respiratory failure.

AI-enabled sensor measuring electrolytes + cardiac biomarkers (NT-proBNP) for monitoring & managing congestive heart failure.

CathVision has delivers AI-based solutions for atrial fibrillation and other common heart rhythm disorders.

AI-powered wearable ultrasound device to automate cardiac imaging anytime, anywhere.

A next-gen soft robotic catheter that allows simultaneous mapping & ablation of the entire heart chamber & pulmonary veins.

Full-Spectrum Heart Failure Management System.

Kelvin Health Inc Kelvin Health is advancing the standard of vascular care by providing accessible rapid non-invasive PAD & CLI diagnostics.

LightScope is an AI-powered laser-based biovital collection device for accurate heart disease diagnosis without a clinician.

The world’s smallest catheter-based blood pump, supporting patients of any size and providing radial artery access.

The device aims to make aortic arch operations safer for patients, simpler for surgeons, and reduce healthcare costs.

AI ECG diagnostics & care-coordination platform with 2x sensitivity on Heart Attacks compared to standard of care (+38 dg.)

NIHA-HF is a patent-protected AI Software as a Medical Device that risk stratifies heart failure based on 30-seconds of lead I ECG.

A cardiac assist pump producing pulsatile systemic flow that effectively unloads the left ventricle to treat heart failure.