Authors: Jun Chen, Samuel Kitara
In our review of the MedTech startup landscape in the Greater New Haven hub, we saw $200M+ disclosed funding into 65 vibrant device startups across 11 medical sub-categories. This piqued our curiosity: who are the players who are eager to support the birth and growth of CT medical device startup ecosystem? For each of these players, what disease area or vertical do they favor, if at all? And lastly, what are some cross-regional collaborations among these players? In this article, we summarize our explorations.
Unveiling the top investors
Connecticut Innovations, CT state’s Venture Development organization, leads medical device investment at 32 deals from 2018 to date, trialing MassChallenge, an accelerator based in Massachusetts, at 7 deals, National Science Foundation at 6 deals, and National Institute of Health at 5 deals. 4Catalyzer, a fund founded by Rothberg, led the largest has investing up to $459M in Butterfly Network, Hyperfine, and Epilepsy, co investing with the Gates foundation, CG Health Ventures, and others. In appendix (bottom of the article), we dived deeper into the investment style of Connecticut Innovations and MassChallenge.
Government agencies are also strong advocates for early-stage medical device technologies
Government and public health agencies are active in the CT early-stage investment scene. Department of Health and Human Services, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and Department of Defense, $10M total since 2018. Notable deals include BrainChild Technology (Neuology), Lambda Vision (Ophthalmology), and Azitra (skin).
Local VCs don’t do this alone
Fertility Focus (feminine tech diagnostics), raised $12.9 from international Angel CoFund (UK) and South West Angels. ZetrOZ (ultrasound treatment for chronic skin issues) raised a total $13M from Maine Angels, Boston Harbor Angels, Mass Medical Angels and others.
Appendix
Whether you are a founder or an investor, entering a deal (read “partnership”) is like entering into a marriage: you want to know who you are talking to and what they like (and dislike). This appendix provides a flavor of the investment style, size, and device subcategory of our top medical device investors.
#1 Connecticut Innovations
Connecticut Innovations leads the league table with 32 investments into device startups from 2017 to date. They are a venture-development organization with the mandate to grow the state economy and create jobs through the venture funding vehicle. They invest in all sectors, including medical devices, health systems, therapeutics, fintech, and others.
[Among the 32 medical device deals, the diagnostics and general surgery categories enjoy the highest volume. Note that the investment amount is the total deal size, where CI is a part of the syndicate.]
#2 MassChallenge
Founded in Boston, MassChallenge is a zero-equity accelerator with industry-specific tracks on general-tech, health-tech and fintech, etc., and location-specific tracks in Boston and around the world.
MassChallenge collaborates with other regional venture development organizations and private venture funds to support the New England startup ecosystem. Despite a smaller footprint in CT, MassChallenge supports promising device startups. Lactation Innovations, for example, which provides a device monitor and captures the quality and quantity during breastfeeding, received investment from MassChallenge, CTNext, Johnson & Johnson, and Connecticut Children’s.]
Closing thoughts
So far, we have explored the financing landscape for therapeutics and medical device startups in the Greater New Haven area. There are certain common characteristics: Venture development organizations, such as Connecticut Innovations, have led the way in building a strong bioscience ecosystem; cross-regional collaboration is common; and accelerators play an important role in uncovering potential unicorns. In our next blog, we will take you through the financing and investment landscape of digital health startups, and uncover the key people, organizations, and companies you need to know.
