Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, everybody, this is Tom Salami of Device Talks. Welcome back to Device Talks Weekly.
We've got a bit of news here. We've had a coup here at Device Talks. This episode has been taken over by the previously trustworthy managing editor, Kayleen Brown of Device Talks. Kayleen Brown, what have you done?
[00:00:21] Speaker B: My plan has come to fruition. It's been three years in the making and it's here.
I have done dominated Device Talks Weekly this week. Not only am I doing the keynote interview, I'm doing our FOMO interview and I have the pleasure of sitting down with this episode sponsor, SHL Healthcare. So it's Kayleen Brown, Kayleen Brown, Kayleen Brown. I hope you all enjoy.
[00:00:43] Speaker A: I'm sure they will. So shl, you recorded a new message with them there as you referenced a new sponsor to just Device Talk. So welcome to shl.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: We always love to learn about companies that are supporting the medtech ecosystem and this interview does not disappoint. It's always so nice to learn more.
And then I have the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Nick west of Shockwave Medical, a JJ MedTech company. So for this segment of Future of Medtech Opportunities, really fantastic conversation because how can it not be? It's Nick west, like, let's be honest.
And then for the keynote interview, one of my favorite people, Jenny Barba, she's co founder of Futures Capital. And I don't know if you know this about Jenna because I know you know Jenny, but Jenny, over her lifetime, she's done over 4 billion in transactions in medtech.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: I did not know that. That's remarkable.
[00:01:35] Speaker B: Billion with a B, like a Bubba B. That's to me, my brain can't even wrap itself in my like around that amount of money. That's incredible.
So of course we talk about that, you know, sweet money, honey. But we also talk a little bit about ice skating, a little bit about donuts. We talk about Jenny's investment philosophy. We of course dig into features capital and its portfolio companies. We talk about what makes a medtech company fundable and of course, what the investment landscape looks like for 2026. So yeah, I have taken over and
[00:02:07] Speaker C: I did do a coup for this
[00:02:08] Speaker B: episode of Device Talks Weekly. But what a way to take over. You're welcome is all I can say about that.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: I appreciate the time off and I'm glad we could bring a lot of friends of Device talks together this week. Nick west and Jenny Barber, good friends of Device talks.
I blacked out a bit after you said the word donuts. Now I'm focused on donuts, so I can't wait to get to that part of the conversation.
And let's just. We should get this podcast started. Before we do, I'd love to invite folks to join us on Tuesday at 4pm for our opening Device Talks. Tuesday's episode of the season. It's the convergence of cybersecurity and AI regulatory requirements in medical devices. It'll be hosted by Intratech, so Please go to devicetalks.com to register for that. It's free. You can watch it live or on demand. All right, Kayleen Brown, you want to complete the takeover? You want to get this podcast started?
[00:03:06] Speaker B: I hope everybody enjoys Kayleen Brown's Device Talks weekly.
[00:03:13] Speaker A: All right, you ready for this?
[00:03:15] Speaker D: Ready.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: Chris DeMarco. How are you, sir?
[00:03:36] Speaker D: Hey. Doing well, Tom. Doing well. Looking forward to a weekend, I tell you.
[00:03:41] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Fridays are great days, aren't they?
[00:03:44] Speaker D: Yeah. We've been working hard for the money this weekend.
Working hard for the money.
[00:03:49] Speaker A: I like me a good Friday. Although my son is working on a drama camp, so I gotta drive him into school tomorrow as well.
So we don't have those. Do you have, like, the Sunday, Saturday morning soccer games and all that stuff? I always hated that stuff.
[00:04:02] Speaker D: Oh, we. You know, actually, the big thing going, starting up is my. My daughter is a daisy. And, you know, this is a certain type of year where you.
Where the Girl Scouts. The Girl Scouts are busy right now.
[00:04:14] Speaker A: Yeah, there's.
[00:04:15] Speaker D: There's. There's stuff going on.
[00:04:16] Speaker A: Cookies or other stuff?
[00:04:17] Speaker D: Cookies, man, it's spring. Spring.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Cookies are. They're. They're a great market, man. I tell you. My boys were in the Cub Scouts and we had to sell popcorn.
Daisies had the cookie market corn.
[00:04:30] Speaker D: You know how the Boy Scouts are. You want to buy some popcorn or. Popcorn.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: It's only $20 for this bag of popcorn.
[00:04:38] Speaker D: Cookies are like, you know, that's a real.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's a thing. My son at Purdue says the Girl Scouts set up all over campus and make a killing selling to the kids. Yeah, it's really smart.
[00:04:49] Speaker D: No way. College students like to eat.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Like to eat snacks. Imagine.
[00:04:56] Speaker E: Who knew they'd be so hungry? Yeah.
[00:05:02] Speaker D: Trying to study. And there's this nice box of cookies over here that might help out.
[00:05:06] Speaker A: So the Girl Scouts got it off. I think they got it over the Cub Scouts and the Boy Scouts. When it comes to fundraising, stuff the cookies.
[00:05:11] Speaker D: It's an operation. It's an operation. My catch right.
Right now is full. My van. There's no storage room. In the back because it's full of cookie boxes right now.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: So now you are not able to do the walk desk to desk and guilt people into buying your daughter's cookies because you don't work in an office because we're a remote operation. So.
[00:05:32] Speaker D: You know what, though? Last year I, you know, on, on the company Slack, I posted a video of my, of my daughter, like you know, saying she's actually, I need, we need to get that done. I need to get that posted this weekend.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: So I'm sorry I brought it up. I'm sorry. I'm all set. We've got all the cookies. No, I'm just kidding. But would love to buy a box of Thin Mints from your.
[00:05:50] Speaker D: I don't need your sticky cookies.
I've got gourmet cookies in the, in the cilantro. Favorite.
[00:05:58] Speaker A: Do you have a favorite food? Oh, I like favorite Girl Scout cookies.
[00:06:02] Speaker D: I mean, there's a reason why they're classic. I mean they do new. What was it? They had a new. Oh, they have a s' mores flavor this year. Like. Oh, the new flavor this year is s'. Mores.
I mean, you know what? I, you know, I, I like a real s'. Mores. I mean that sounds, that sounds better than a cookie that maybe something with
[00:06:20] Speaker A: some, a cookie with whiskey in it or something would be great. You think the Girl Scouts could get behind that? Probably not.
[00:06:25] Speaker D: There might be some problems with children selling alcoholic.
Stop.
[00:06:31] Speaker A: All right.
[00:06:32] Speaker D: This is why, this is why we shouldn't be involved in Girl Scouts.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Let's bring this train back on the track.
[00:06:41] Speaker D: Chris Newmarker, Back on the track.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: You got some big news this week, starting with iPodOS. What's an IPO? Chris Newmarker, I haven't heard one of those in a very long time.
[00:06:51] Speaker D: Right?
I mean, I mean, at least, you know, but they've really picked up in medtech like, you know, which is, I, I just think it's fantastic news that, I mean, for, for a time covering this industry, I mean, it just seemed like the only reasonable exit that a younger medical device company had was like, okay, we're going to get a big strategic to acquire us eventually. And now we're just increasingly seeing device companies, hey, they're going on in the public markets. It's a new way to exit, a new way for investors to cash out and companies get even bigger. I love that we have the potential for more larger device companies that are publicly trade it. It'll be, be really fun. And we have two stories about IPOs.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: This week, number five, Chris Newmarker. Joint number five. Joint number five.
[00:07:40] Speaker D: Number five on the list. I mean, we have Bioventrics in Massachusetts, you know, filing for, for an ipo.
You know, these are, you know, cardiac technologies. They're looking to treat the dilated left ventricle and reverse the left ventricular modeling process to treat congestive.
So they've got a system that supports this minimally invasive procedure that does that.
So that's just really exciting. So we'll be seeing that IPO playing out. And then the other name is probably one of the best known names in medtech, Manny Vilafauna.
Pretty much. I'd say arguably half the medical device industry in the Twin Cities goes back to something that Manny founded back in the day. I mean, my gosh, he's, he's really like one of the founders of the industry.
And it's so cool to cover an industry that's young enough that we still have founders, founders around. And you know, Manny's just still at it, like starting companies. And he's got this medical 21 that's going to be filed to do, do an IPO. And you know, this is like this, you know, it's basically like artificial grafts, a small flexible tube encased in the nitinol scaffold. I bet. You know, Jim Hammerand our managing MDO editor is already perking up even though he's not on this call, like hearing there's some nitinol involved in this. But I'd say we need to. I'm gonna invite Manny to come on this podcast. We gotta invite, we gotta do a good interview with Manny soon because I mean, I talked with him in the past. He's just, it's just fantastic. I mean, you just walk away like, wow, this is just the most exciting, cool industry with just like the most amazing history.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: And he has a really great restaurant too.
[00:09:34] Speaker D: Yeah, no kidding. Those hash browns are like a bomb on the table.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: So what's super interesting is both companies are pre revenue. So this kind of goes back to old timey medical device IPOs where people were investing on the promise rather than sales performance. So yeah, I hope they do well. It'll be a great, great lift for the sector. We're always looking for new sources of capital. So best of luck to Bioventrics and
[00:10:04] Speaker D: to Manny and Medical 21.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: All right, what's number four? Chris Newmarker.
[00:10:09] Speaker D: Hey, number four on the list, we've got VB Spine, which has had an interesting history. I mean, my gosh, that was, you know, you know, that's, you know, Stryker's, you know, former, you know, former spy business, you know, now, now, you know, private equity. But they're going to be acquiring Augmentics augmented reality navigation tech.
So that'll be.
Yeah, just really cool. Nice, nice addition to the lineup that they have, you know, now as an independent company.
[00:10:42] Speaker A: Yep. Mark Viscogliosi, who's co CEO of VB Spine, said, we've long admired the X vision technology and potential of the platform. We believe with our implant integration scale, we have the ability to harness the true potential of AR navigation.
So yeah, the Viscolius brothers are investing in the Spine portfolio that Stryker divested because they saw it as a lower growth business compared to their others. But Viscolius brothers are going to wrap things up. So sounds like we have another big Spine player out there.
[00:11:17] Speaker D: Exactly. And number three on the list too is also Spine. There's quite a backbone to this Newmarker Newsmaker.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Backbone. Look at you. And all three. Speaking of backbones, all three are done by Sean Hooley of Test Device.
So what's number three? Chris Newmacher.
[00:11:33] Speaker D: Hey, number three is Sean writing about. Actually, yeah, Sean writing about Medtronic getting FDA clearance for their stealth axis robotic system for spine surgery. In this, you know, is building off the existing maser and stealth station technologies that Medtronic had. And you know, they're like packaging them all together, planning navigation robotics, you know, single intelligent system, you know. So this is, this is kind of like the next generation, I mean Medtronic with the Mazer tech, you know, really, I think one of the, you know, like a dominant player in robotic spine surgery. And this is, I'm like looking to take it to the next level.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: Absolutely. No, it's a great next generation for I think it was Mazor is how that was said. And sorry, no, it's spelled like razor, but I think Mazor. I always say Mazor, but yeah, no, Medtronic continues to rack up some, some big wins in the product development in the product news department. So that's great news. Speaking of Mazor, I hope in the next couple of weeks or months we'll have some news from the founders of Mazor. They have a new company they're working on. They're going to start talking about it a bit more. So it should be an interesting addition to the surgical robotics space.
[00:12:52] Speaker D: That's really exciting. I can't wait to find that out.
And going on with talking about Medtronic, I mean, just earlier this week, yours truly, I covered Medtronic's third quarter results and this new spine surgery system was one of the things they were talking about. But my goodness, it was just actually overall just a lot of positive news out of Medtronic as they reported these street beating Q3 results though, I mean, the markets at least initially weren't exactly excited. I think they were hoping that Medtronic would raise its guidance. That would be my guess, which they're kind of like holding steady. But, but I mean like the big thing that struck, that struck me was the, the cardiac ablation solutions revenue like more than doubled year over year in the United States. I mean, I mean that those affair technologies that Medtronic brought on are just really, really like providing some good news for the company. Really fueling some growth.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I feel like last year there was, I don't know, I got the sense of conventional wisdom was that Boston Scientific sort of had a lock on things with Ferropulse, but things seemed to be knocking loose a lot. And we had Darren Uecker from Pulse Biosciences on last week talking about their technology, which performed really well in limited early stage clinical trials. So the game, the story's not written yet on pulse field ablation and I
[00:14:38] Speaker D: like seeing some competition overall, it seems like competition encourages innovation, so this will be fun to continue to follow that. Some other big news out of Medtronic with these earnings was that they got their first US Cases done with Hugo commercially at the Cleveland Clinic. So yeah, so competition continues there too. There's some increased competition and soft tissue robotic surgery.
And also, you know, probably one other thing I'd add like that they, the news that they had was, you know, that they had, you know, with simplicity, spiral renal denervation. I mean they're, they're actually, they're starting to market it directly to consumers.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Oh, interesting.
[00:15:22] Speaker D: Yeah. Okay. Which, I mean, I could especially something that's kind of like this really different technology. I could, I suspect, you know, like doctors, I mean overall can tend to be conservative, you know, be like, you know, just deal with the blood, you know, do the blood pressure medicines.
[00:15:36] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:15:36] Speaker D: You know, like, I mean, it's direct. A consumer could get, you know, patients more to come coming into the doctor and saying, like saying like, I'm tired of these blood pressure meds. You know, what about this procedure where, you know, they could come in and, you know, this could maybe just take care of it.
[00:15:51] Speaker A: It is a pharma market. I mean, you're right. It's all it's pharmaceuticals right now that's, that's treating the hypertension. So they're certainly plugging into that energy, into that existing dynamic. So that makes a great deal of sense.
And they also had reported, I don't know if you wrote it this week, the story that they got reimbursement in Japan.
[00:16:11] Speaker D: Yeah, I wrote that. Yeah, they got the reimbursement in Japan, and it appears that Recor, their competitor and renal derivation seems to be on track to do the same too. So they're just kind of mirroring each other. They got regulatory approval in Japan, now they get reimbursement approvement. So the competition continues. But yeah, I mean, Japan, one of the wealthiest countries in the world. So, I mean, good, good market to be getting reimbursement at. And it just looks like Medtronic's just growing the opportunities to market this technology and hopefully really make a difference on how hypertension is treated, because it could be a real pain in the neck for the people who have it to try to figure out how to do it properly.
[00:16:56] Speaker A: Absolutely. No. Great point. All right, Christian America, what's the big number one of this week's new markers news media.
[00:17:01] Speaker D: Right. I mean, usually Medtronic, you know, earnings probably get to the top, but no, nope. I mean, Danaher had to go and say they're going to buy Massimo for nearly $10 billion.
[00:17:13] Speaker A: Well, we talked about Masimo being acquired for $10 billion on this podcast just a few weeks ago, but we were
[00:17:20] Speaker D: thinking the, the company or the California that has fruit as its logo is
[00:17:24] Speaker A: going to, it's going to do it. You know, we weren't anticipating dinner. We're halfway there. Chris Newmarker. We're, we were closing in on it,
[00:17:31] Speaker D: but there was some cloudiness in our crystal ball.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: But I'm sure what happened was someone from danahera was listening and said, whoa, wait a minute, they're right. We should go in and buy it instead.
[00:17:42] Speaker D: I'd like to thank that. Yeah. Thanks for listeners from danaherta.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: That's a great idea. I just was listening to this podcast and these two idiots said someone should buy Mazepar for $10 million.
So, no, as I said on, on, on LinkedIn, you know, I don't know, I thought, I thought Apple missed an opportunity. Plenty of people made good comments suggesting that it wasn't a good fit. Others said my I was brilliant, so take it for what it's worth. Yeah, but I'm, I'm glad that, I mean, Danaher is a good place for, for mass motech. It feels like a nice fit. It's a real medtech fit.
And it'll. It'll, I think, produce a lot of good tech going forward. Do they indicate whether or not they're keeping the Massimo building, the Massimo business in Southern California? Is that talked about at all?
[00:18:33] Speaker D: You know, this is stories by shock.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: Yeah. Danaher expects Masimo to operate as a standalone company within its diagnostic segment. So I assume they would remain where they are.
[00:18:43] Speaker D: Stark headquarters will remain intact. You know that, right? You've heard that story?
[00:18:47] Speaker A: No, I didn't know that.
[00:18:49] Speaker D: Massimo's headquarters is in the building that was Tony Stark's corporate headquarters in the Iron man movies.
[00:18:55] Speaker A: I did not know that.
[00:18:57] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:18:57] Speaker A: How did I not know that? Piece of medtech lore. That's amazing.
[00:19:01] Speaker D: Yeah, you gotta, I mean, go to their website and look at their corporate headquarters. Like, wow.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: So from the original Iron man where. Original Iron man, where he fought Iron Monger and.
[00:19:13] Speaker F: Yeah.
[00:19:14] Speaker A: Did they have one of those arc generator things there?
[00:19:17] Speaker C: What are those things gonna happen?
[00:19:18] Speaker A: I don't know.
[00:19:19] Speaker D: I mean, like, yeah, we gotta get. Yeah, we gotta, you know, get Dick. Katie's Iman, their CEO, like, over at the headquarters. I mean, I wanna. I wanna figure this out.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: That would be worth $10 billion all by itself.
[00:19:30] Speaker D: Seriously. Like, we bought an arc.
There's some suits in the basement. It's great.
They're like. Those suits weren't real. They were props.
I always love the story. Like, the original Star Trek. Like, people like. Like, I heard some interview with William Shatner, he said, people say, like, how do they open the doors? Like, like, you know, like, he's like. They had two prop people on each side who opened the doors, pulled them back when I. It was. It was a TV series.
[00:20:01] Speaker A: There's a very good series on. On prime called Center Seat, done by Gail McFadden, Beverly Crusher from Next Generation, about the history of Star Trek. So each episode sort of takes a certain segment of it. So the show and then the Animated series, now they're talking about the movies. So highly recommend it. I'm a Star Trek aficionado and I'm learning a lot from it.
[00:20:25] Speaker D: So what's it called again?
[00:20:27] Speaker A: Center Seat. The Center Seat.
[00:20:29] Speaker D: Center Seat. All right. I've got to check that out. That sounds fantastic.
[00:20:32] Speaker A: Yeah, we should.
[00:20:32] Speaker D: We should end on that.
[00:20:34] Speaker A: We should end these newsmakers with a little kind of recommendation, what are you watching? Kind of thing. Why don't we add that in?
So any shows that you're in the middle of right now, Chris, or books.
[00:20:47] Speaker D: I'VE got little kids, Tom.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: So K pop demon hunters. Is that where we're at right now?
[00:20:54] Speaker D: I got the kids excited on the how to trade your dragon live action movie. That was pretty cool.
[00:20:59] Speaker A: That's a nice one. Yeah, that was fun.
[00:21:01] Speaker D: I thought they did a decent job with it. It was good times. And right now, the Olympics, we're watching a lot of the Olympics. The kids are actually very excited about all the different sports and they also, you know, do some cross country skiing and whatnot. So it's actually fun to like. This is actually what it looks like when people are really, really good at it. So that's, that's fantastic.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: So do you have a curling whatever in the backyard?
[00:21:22] Speaker D: CHRIS NEWMARKER we aren't doing curling. I, you know, it looks, it looks. Did you hear that? I think there was like cheating with the Canadian.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: I heard that. Canadians for double touching.
[00:21:33] Speaker D: You know, just a little extra
[00:21:38] Speaker A: Tom Brady of curling. Yeah.
[00:21:41] Speaker D: Though my favorite moment was like, did you hear about the Norwegian skier? He just walked off in the woods.
[00:21:46] Speaker A: No, I didn't see that.
[00:21:48] Speaker D: The poor guy, he was set to win gold and he just really messed up something and he just stopped, took his skis off, threw his poles away and just walked off on the woods on the side of the course, which I think we've all had those moments in life where just like, I just need a little, I mean, he even said, like, I just need a little alone time.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: Yeah, I might be doing that during a panel at Device Talks Boston. So if I get flustered, I'll just drop everything and just walk out of
[00:22:19] Speaker D: the room, go get a cup of coffee.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: All right, Chris Newmarker where can folks get the top five news? MedTech News every day of the week?
[00:22:28] Speaker D: CHRIS NEWMARKER well, I encourage people, hey, I mean, hopefully we aren't joking around too much or hopefully we're entertaining you as we tell you the news. But you can get this every day. Just go to Mass Device. Go to E. Newsletter subscriptions. Sign up for for our daily Plus 5 newsletter and you can get the top medtech news every day on Mass Device.
[00:22:46] Speaker A: Absolutely.
People are fools to not sign up for this free resource, this chock full of medtech goodness.
[00:22:54] Speaker D: Well, this is fun as always, Tom. Live long and prosper, Tom. Long and prosper.
[00:22:58] Speaker A: Take care, Chris. And marker.
[00:22:59] Speaker D: Take care, man.
[00:23:01] Speaker A: All right. Thank you, Chris Newmarker for this week's Newmarkers newsmakers. Now let's start the Kaylene Brown show. Kayleen first sits down with our sponsor, SHL Healthcare. Let's listen.
[00:23:13] Speaker B: Purbie Yorkman, Chief Commercial Officer for SHL Healthcare. Welcome to the podcast.
[00:23:19] Speaker E: Thank you very much, Kayleigh, and it's very nice to be here.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Well, it's an absolute pleasure, Per. So, as I understand it, SHL Healthcare as a standalone company is a contract developer manufacturer. So can you help us understand what problem is SHL Healthcare trying to solve for meta companies?
[00:23:39] Speaker E: At our core, SHL Healthcare exists to solve complex manufacturing and development problems in a regulated environment.
We're headquartered in Stockholm, have manufacturing facilities in Europe and Asia.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: Excellent. So then, how does SHL Healthcare work with medical device companies?
[00:23:57] Speaker E: We have 30 years of experience in helping OAM companies move from ideas to reliable, scalable production, mostly in products such as patient handling products, pressure ulcer prevention surfaces and compression therapy IPC products.
[00:24:14] Speaker B: So Purah, I heard you say a couple of times, complex manufacturing. What does that actually look like in practice?
[00:24:20] Speaker E: In practice, it often means products that combine medical textiles, or as we internally call them, soft goods with mechanical, pneumatic or electronic control units.
Think patient lifting devices, repositioning aids, pressure ulcer prevention mattress solutions, and different pneumatic compression devices. IPC'd products.
That's where we really differentiate ourselves.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: So speaking of differentiation, you have this unusual combination of advanced sewing, welding and electromechanical assembly.
So Per, can you take us inside that? Why does having all of that under one roof matter during development?
[00:25:01] Speaker E: It matters because it removes the friction at the most critical stages during development, design decisions affect cost, quality, scalability. Later on, by integrating textile engineering, RF welding and electromechanical assembly, we can apply a design to manufacture approach from day one for the complete medical device.
This shortens development cycles, improves manufacturability, and significantly reduces risks when the product moves into validation and commercial scale.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: I will hear a little more from SHL Healthcare a little later in the podcast. Now it's time for Kayleen Brown again.
She sits down with Nick west of Johnson and Johnson MedTech. They connected at our Device Talks west meeting. Enjoy this week's fomo.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: Nick West, Chief Medical Officer of Shockwave Medical Jane J. Medtech welcome to the future of MedTech opportunities.
[00:26:07] Speaker F: Thanks Kelly. Pleased to be here.
[00:26:08] Speaker B: Well, I know that you are a very hot commodity, so I really do appreciate you taking the time, but we really want to look at how Shockwave Medical is impacting medtech today and most importantly, tomorrow. So with that in mind, let's start with can you, for context for our audience, can you help us understand more about the calcium modification space and why innovation here is so critical so calcium
[00:26:33] Speaker F: modification is very, very important in the treatment of vascular disease. The reason for this is that as we age, our vessels become harder. The original Greek description of vascular disease is atherosclerosis, which is a combination of porridge and hardening.
Now, that's because the laying gamut of calcific deposits is part of sort of wear and tear, if you like. Now, there are certain things that drive it. We can think about kidney disease, high blood pressure, elevated lipids, diabetes, smoking. But the one that trumps all of those is age. If you live long enough, you're going to get vascular disease. And if you live longer still, you're going to get calcific vascular disease. So we know it's there and we know that people will have calcific deposits in all their blood vessels if they live long enough. Men probably earlier than women.
The reason that this is important is that like many developed countries, the US has an aging population. So this is going to get commoner and commoner. And when it comes to the treatment of vascular disease, calcium is a major impediment to getting a great result. And the reason for that is that standard treatments involve using a balloon, balloon angioplasty, or stents mounted on balloons. You simply can't expand those if there are big rocks, if you like, in the vessel wall.
Now, there are a variety of tools that have been developed to treat those, and they are varyingly successful.
The thing that's so unique about Shockwave, and that has really, I think, helped to drive the field forward and expand the treatment of patients with this condition, is it's unique in its safety profile, its efficacy, and its ease of use.
[00:28:15] Speaker B: I just feel like I have this like two minute masterclass. I also, I'm horrified about getting older. For now, another reason. So thank you for keeping me up at night here.
[00:28:25] Speaker F: Not much you can do about that, I'm afraid.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: That's true. That's true.
Let's talk about what Shockwave Medical is focusing on right now that may inform the future of medtech.
[00:28:37] Speaker F: So one thing we're really focused on is continuing to innovate, and continue to innovate in a lot of spaces.
We continue to innovate in an R and D sense, we continue to innovate in a data sense, and we continue to innovate critically, certainly in the US for reimbursement.
Now, Shockwave IVL has already enjoyed enormous adoption in the US it's now used in about 12% of all coronary angioplasty procedures, which is pretty astonishing.
But we know that the devices as they are cannot be used in every single patient. Some physicians may not have adopted it for all kinds of reasons, which is why we're so focused on driving forwards and not resting on our laurels as the leader in this space.
We have nearly 40 internal R& D programs running in terms of either developing new devices for specific indications, but also iterating and developing the devices we have and improving them continually based on physician driven feedback. So we're really focused on doing that because if we listen to the physicians to tell us what their patients need, we can provide better and better outcomes for those patients. So innovation in that regard is really important.
But just giving someone a new toy is part of the game.
We also have to build a sustainable evidence base under this to prove these devices are safe, to prove their efficacious. Everyone knows they're easy to use and of course the, it's not a dirty word. But reimbursement is also very, very important, certainly in the US climate. So we are innovating and developing reimbursement pathways and you know, we are cognizant. As you've pointed out, it's a broad space, the medtech space. There are other companies that have seen how successful IVL has been and they are going to be following in our footsteps. They will hope to leverage some of the innovation that we have done based on the data, based on how we've developed our platform and based on the reimbursement pathways. But what I would say is that when these competitors come to market, they will be in the first gen device. We're already going to be on our fourth or fifth gen devices and looking at new spaces and all of the data we've accumulated, you can't say it's a class effect.
The unique ultrasonic acoustic pressure waveform we have is optimized for efficacy and safety and so it is beholden to other competitors to show that they are as safe and as efficacious as we are.
[00:31:13] Speaker B: Very well said. And it's so interesting that you bring up that you're innovating new reimbursement pathways. That has been an absolute theme that I've seen on our FOMO series where the best way to move the industry forward for better outcomes is to innovate in the reimbursement space. Codes, you know, CPT codes, they, they don't have the same or I guess the way I'm trying to say is like sometimes going after existing codes, that's a barrier. And innovating and trying to blaze through that. That pathway just opens up so many more opportunities.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:54] Speaker F: And I think the use of the term value is very important to, because you're talking about financial value. But of course there's value to physician and value to patient as well as value holistically to society. So I think value is a great term to use when we're thinking about this because of the prevalence of vascular disease. And maybe I should have mentioned this earlier, but I think just again a couple of points to frame around vascular disease. Coronary artery disease remains the number one killer worldwide.
The other territory that we're most involved in is lower limb intervention, peripheral artery disease, which is, it's kind of a forgotten condition. I bet if I asked you what the symptoms of peripheral artery disease were, you you may not be able to answer because people know that if you get pain in the chest, you might be having a heart attack. They know if they're, if their face is drooping, their speech is slurring, it could be a stroke. If you get cramp in the legs when you go for a walk, you might just think I pulled a muscle, I twisted, funnily, I've are not fit enough. But that can be an early warning sign of atherosclerotic disease in the peripheral arteries. And left untreated.
And we know that probably more than 200 million people worldwide suffer from this condition already. But left untreated, this can progress causing not only the symptoms I've described, cramping on walking, but what we call chronic limb threatening ischemia, which is where the blood site supplied the foot is so compromised that people have non healing ulcers. Gangrene require amputations, 150,000 non traumatic limb amputations a year in the USA. It's a source of enormous poor quality of life and misery for patients. So just to put it in context, all of these things have enormous value to society when we think about what we're trying to prevent from happening.
[00:33:34] Speaker B: I'm going to put this in my words very clearly. Healing Brown is when saying this, but historically those patients have been called no option patients.
[00:33:41] Speaker F: Yeah, no option patients.
They still exist even though we've had huge advances in the overall medtech space in the way that not only the tools that are provided by MedTech, but of course the techniques developed by physicians in order to treat these in different ways. And we're very proud that we are developing things for those no option patients. And in fact one thing that we have launched this year is our first Non balloon based IVLA intravascular lithotripsy platform. All of our platforms to date have been based on the same sort of balloon technology that people use for angioplasty, which is why people like it. It's so familiar, it's so easy to adopt. But we've now developed for occluded or very high grade stenotic lesions. We developed a catheter based delivery. So rather than having a balloon that you blow up against the lesion and then transmit the acoustic pressure waves through that into the tissues, we have a single emitter at the the tip of the catheter that can abut right against a very high grade stenosis or occluded segment in order to modify the calcium and then cross that lesion. So those patients we're treating, there is another lost tribe in the no option patients.
There's a condition that most people know what angina is, or angina, if you're in the U.S. it's the pain you get when an area of the heart runs short of blood.
There's a condition called refractory angina, which is patients who have no revascularization option. They have no, no option for stents or surgery. They may be maxed out on medications and still getting symptoms. And these people don't have a therapeutic option.
We have a device that we acquired before we were acquired by Johnson Johnson. We acquired a company called Neovasc who had a device called the coronary sinus reducer. It's an hourglass shaped scaffold that's placed in the coronary sinus. Now, the coronary sinus is the vein that takes the blood away from the heart. The coronary arteries take blood to the heart muscle. Coronary sinus takes it away.
This creates an iatrogenic narrowing in the coronary sinus once it's endothelialized, that increases the back pressure and redistributes blood from the areas that are getting blood to the areas that are not getting blood. And that improves symptoms in these no option patients. So that device is C marked in Europe.
It's been used for over a decade and we are currently in the middle of our third sham controlled study for FDA approval. So we're very excited about the shockwave reduce and what it could bring to this group of patients who have currently no options.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: So what I love about our industry, Dr. West, and I'm getting a little choked up thinking about it, is that even the no options patients, there's always hope.
And that's what drives us.
I'M so excited about the future of Shockwave Medical J and J Med Tech. I'm so hopeful for our futures, the medtech industry in general.
So let's take it.
I know that you've touched on a lot of already what you're working on, but.
And I already know the answer to this question, so bear with me for a second because it's so obvious to me why this is exciting. But why do you believe that Shockwave Medical is poised to drive what's next in this space?
[00:36:53] Speaker F: I think we're poised to drive what's next. I mean, I know the answer to this question as well.
I think as far as I can tell you or tell the audience, we're poised to drive what's next because we're not standing still. We are the leaders in the advanced calcium modification tool space. We are.
We have a suite of tools that are addressing needs that are unmet at the present time. As I mentioned, we have 40 R&D programs, we have an enormous budget within R and D focused on driving what's next.
Not resting on our laurels and just saying, oh, you know, here's a device, just keep using it and marketing it to death. We want to keep improving it and improving it and improving it, responding to the needs that physicians tell us that they have, that their patients are driving.
I think that's what keeps all of us at Shockwave, you know, motivated. We really want to keep driving towards those physician and patient unmet needs. But as I mentioned earlier on, it needs to be supported with data. We can't just provide a tool. It needs to be the tool that can do the job for physicians that treats the patients with a great outcome and a safe outcome that is evidence based.
[00:38:00] Speaker B: I'll say that for you once again, evidence based. Evidence based. So very, very important. Let's bring it just to the most hopeful future.
Assuming that everything goes the way that we want it to go, the evidence supports it, what could the space look like in five years?
[00:38:17] Speaker F: That's a really interesting question because as I've said, the space is changing just because the demographics are changing.
It is likely that the proportion of patients with calcific disease and complex disease in both the coronary and the peripheral vascular spaces will increase.
One would hope that with new entrants into the space, it's going to drive more interest.
With more interest, it's going to become more treatment, which is great for patients. It's going to also force, drive more innovation, which also is great.
So I think the space will probably look very different in five years. If we go back five years before IVL even existed in the US the landscape was completely different.
And if you look at the proportion of patients with severe calcific disease in the coronas and the peripheral vasculature getting the kind of treatment they needed, it was very few and far between. We'd like to hope that IVL has been a part of drawing attention to this disease state to drive excellence in care and to drive an improved future for patients.
[00:39:18] Speaker B: I very rarely have the opportunity to ask this question, so I'd love to ask it when you are looking at future opportunities because so very clearly you have your finger on the pulse.
What advice do you have for our audience and other innovators who are looking to build a beautiful medtech future? What advice do you have?
[00:39:37] Speaker F: I'm sure I'm reiterating things that people will have said before me and people who know a lot more about this space will have said before me.
There has to be an unmet need. It has to be a pull for a patient. Unmet need, Physician. Unmet need. I wouldn't say secondary, but it's the patients. We're all here for the patients.
It's got to be supported by evidence.
It's got to be easy to use.
Those are the things that are going to drive uptake of any technology. And I think that's why I'm so proud and so glad to be part of Shockwave because It's an shockwave. IVL is an innovation that ticks all those boxes.
[00:40:14] Speaker B: Dr. Nick west, chief medical officer for Shockwave Medical and Johnson and Johnson MedTech. Thank you so much for joining us on the future of medtech opportunities. It has been beyond. A pleasure.
[00:40:25] Speaker F: Thank you. My pleasure. Thank you for having me.
[00:40:32] Speaker A: Great job. Kayleen Brown, always awesome to hear from Nick west of Johnson and Johnson MedTech. Now it's time for our keynote conversation. Kayleen Brown sits down with Jenny Barber of Features Capital.
[00:40:48] Speaker B: Jenny Barba, co founder and managing partner for Features Capital. Welcome to Device Talks Weekly.
[00:40:55] Speaker C: Hi Kayleen. I'm so excited to be here today and to chat and discuss medtech, my most favorite thing in the world.
[00:41:04] Speaker B: You and me both. I mean, this is one of my new favorite people, my all time favorite industry, my all time favorite passion all at once. So this hour is going to be a lot of fun. Jenny, now word on the street is that you are an ice skater. Before we dig into med tech, you
[00:41:20] Speaker C: got to tell me about that.
[00:41:21] Speaker B: Give me the skinny.
[00:41:23] Speaker C: Yes. From a very early age, I Loved figure skating. This is a fun fact that most people do not know about me. So I'm putting this out into the world. I figure skated before school almost every day for two hours and God bless my parents because they were the ones who had to wake up at 5am and drive me to the rink. And my dad was a saint. He would always get me a pink Dunkin Donuts, sprinkled donut and a hot chocolate for when I had to change my skates. And I think that's where I got a lot of this self drive, goal oriented self drive. And all my athleticism came from those early days.
And figure skating is a beautiful sport. I did not go on to the Nancy Kerrigan or Michelle Kwan status but I still love it and I'm so joyful because my daughter who is 10 shares the same passion and she is a figure skater.
[00:42:24] Speaker B: Are you repeating the same tradition? Are you doing the Dunkin Donuts during the ice skate change? Are you?
[00:42:31] Speaker C: Luckily it's not at 6am so we are not in the Dunkin Donuts. We're not a Dunkin Donuts evening family.
[00:42:39] Speaker B: Understood? Understood. Well, I love that so much. And when I learned about that, Jenny, what came to mind was kind of a couple things that we already alluded to. One, you very clearly are driven, you very clearly are practiced and understand the value of dedication and dedicating yourself to your sport. And then the third part, and you just beautifully said it right now, is is community that without your parents and the efforts that they put in, the support that they put in to give you that opportunity never would have happened. I think that's really reflective of med tech dedication, a sense of community to get it done and understanding that we have to put a lot of hard work to get that positive outcome. So it seems very met techi. What a great way to start.
[00:43:29] Speaker C: Yes, I love, I always love the intersection of sports and med tech and athletes who have overcome challenges.
[00:43:38] Speaker B: I would love to understand your pathway to medtech. So as I understand it, over the last 25 years, Jenny, you've worked across investment banking venture, you hold board roles and now you're the co founder and managing partner for Futures Capital.
And I also like, kind of in addition to that I've noticed that there's neuroscience in your educational background. You have a master's in public health and you have an MBA in finance and strategy. So connect the dots for us. Did you already see that you wanted to be in med tech when you chose that educational pathway or did MedTech kind of just find you. Let's start there.
[00:44:15] Speaker C: So I've always been a nerd in terms of science and math from my early childhood until now.
[00:44:23] Speaker D: And.
[00:44:24] Speaker C: And I think medtech just really feeds off of being curious and always really looking at the future and how technology can be applicable.
So to answer your question, I fell in love with the brain in undergrad, so I became a neuroscience major. And I was just in awe of these pathways and neurotransmitters at the same time. My paternal grandfather had early onset Alzheimer's and Parkinsonisms, so it was very real time for me to study this and experience it as a family member and observed my grandmother and my father and my aunt as their caregivers.
So I studied Parkinson's research right out of undergrad. I had two fellowships, one from the National Parkinson's Disease foundation, another from the Michael J. Fox foundation to do early bench research at the Sunnyvale Parkinson's Institute in Sunnyvale, and surrounded by brilliant PhDs who were studying potential cures for Parkinson's at the same time. I was living in the Bay Area and I had five roommates and I had an hour commute, which I think would still hold the same today in terms of the commute. But I just kept thinking, there has to be a better way. Why is, why is this taking so long? And why are these tiny, tiny grants, $100,000 grants, they're just not big enough to have the impact that I wanted to see at the pace that I thought was necessary. And I just kept thinking, there has to be a better way. And that's a theme that I continue to thrive on with everything I do. I just always ask, there has to be a better way. And so with that, I jumped head first, feet first, head first, backwards, upside down, into investment banking at a firm called Hamburgton Quits, really the predecessor to what is now the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. And a lot of the team members, that is where I learned about venture from the luminary Dan Case, who really showed our entire team and led by example, about the importance in venture, not only with supporting founders and tech, but really taking that risk in early stage to change economies, to change the future.
So that's always been ingrained in me. I stayed in investment banking for many years. I was at H and Q. I also was at Martian McLennan, Astro 9 11, worked with health systems like Kaiser and Catholic Healthcare west and Edwards Life Sciences.
So getting my feet wet with IPOs. So the heyday of IPOs, after, you know, the late 90s and then the risk Management side with Captives and Reinsurance and Global Catastrophic Risk. I jumped back into academia and I went to University of Michigan Go Blue. And I have an MBA and a master's in public health really focusing on healthcare administration and policy. My favorite class was taught by the whistleblower who was part of the large tobacco case.
And just the really fun stuff you get to do as a dual degree.
I was on the Wolverine Venture Fund.
So that was my first dabbling as a vc. The Wolverine Venture Fund is an evergreen fund in the business school and we did some really exciting deals. The university's first IPO in a. In a laser company, ophthalmology laser company.
And after business school I went back into investment banking at a firm called Piper Jaffrey, now Piper Sandler really because I wanted to focus 100% on med tech. They really were the market leader and do as many deals as possible in middle market, predominantly sell side M and A ipos follow ons and private offerings. And so I've done over 4 billion in transactions in my lifetime working with brilliant founders, brilliant management teams, some of which are now the luminaries and market leaders.
[00:48:36] Speaker B: 4 billion.
Yep.
[00:48:39] Speaker C: It's so exciting. And after Piper, I took a little time off. I skied about five days a week at Alta in Utah.
And my father was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. So we moved to the east coast to be closer with him.
And when my daughter was born, I have two kids. When my daughter was born, I started working for a large multinational insurance company that was private and they needed to put their assets to work. So we did about 100 million in one year into private deals and into venture funds. I joined. One of the funds that we invested in was with them for five years. So I commuted to Boston and was doing early stage venture. And then I thought, gosh, it really is time to start something new.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: So many questions are popping in my mind as you're telling me about your journey. So we know that, well, money makes the world go round. We understand that some of the interviews that I have the privilege of conducting, when I hear they want to go into Medtech, they see the value of med tech. They'll choose, you know, clinical affairs or they'll choose business management, understanding that you have to manage a portfolio. So, so why investing? Why did you feel like that's where you can make the most impact in medtech?
[00:49:57] Speaker C: That's a great question. And I've thought about this a lot.
So I've always wanted to make a big impact with what I do. And I'M not a doctor, I'm not an engineer, no longer a neuroscience research expert. My focus is on connecting capital.
So as a fund manager and as a fund, our job is to connect capital and put that to work and make money for our LPs. So with that, you know, in medtech it is unique and rare to invest in early stage and the opportunities for returns for RLPs are, you know, we think astronomical in terms of how we're able to bring and combine the two. With that, that, you know, the impact that we get to make is in really mentoring, supporting founders even before they're ready for investment, either from us or from others as part of this ecosystem.
Then as we are investing, we get to pick and choose and do the diligence. So a lot of the skills that I already had, that I've been doing for over 20 years, diligence, working with founders, connecting teams, solving problems, mitigating risk, and then really combining that with the focus on returns.
So at the end of the day, the goal here is to make money, rinse, repeat, right? Continue to do this and bring products and companies to market that are going to save hundreds of millions of lives.
[00:51:30] Speaker B: I mean, money makes the world go round, but if the money can save lives and prolong patient lives, I mean, what a privilege. And you've already said it, Jenny, this is, it's a privilege to be a part of this industry. It is the best industry in the world. I say it every single day and I mean it with every fiber of my being. What a luxury it is to be able to see your impact make not just a difference to one person, but that entire community. And we said at the start of our conversation that you have to have community to have positive outcomes in medtech.
I know that someone listening to this conversation would be raising their hands right now to ask a follow up. So on behalf of this imaginary person that I'm envisioning here, how did you break into investing? Because I think that there is this impressions that you have to be in industry for a certain number of years before you can get the credibility to even go through a door, if it was even available. How did you do that in practical terms for our listeners?
[00:52:42] Speaker C: Definitely when I first thought about getting into venture, it was 2001 and I looked around at all the funds on Sandhill Road and I looked at the pathways and I thought, gosh, in order to be a VC, you have to have a PhD, you know, a lab coat, a PhD, publications and patents.
And I realized, gosh, I had left that Train. I left the PhD route to go into finance. So then venture kind of wasn't on my radar for a long time until I got a call from a CEO of an insurance company and they said, hey Jenny, we're diligencing a medtech venture fund. I know you know about MedTech. Would you like to come in and join us? And immediately it was my birthday and I immediately happy birthday, Jenny.
I know, Happy birthday. I said yes because I was like, you know this, I can do this with my eyes closed. This is all I've ever done is diligencing medtech and working with medtech founders.
So jumped right in. And then a year later I was asked to join the medtech firm in Boston after being an lp. So being an LP first is a very unique way to get into venture. So I'd love to know how many other MedTech VCs were actually an LP first.
[00:53:59] Speaker B: I think we'll start a poll and get an answer to you because I am just as intrigued. And that was really interesting. And for the layperson like myself, what does LP stand for?
[00:54:09] Speaker C: Good question.
So LP stands for limited partner. And for all the founders out there, the limited partners are the investors who invest in venture capital firms or private equity firms.
And they are the private capital, the, the, the patient capital, as well as the people we the people, the institutions, the health systems, the foundations, the endowments, the family offices that we are working for to grow their assets.
[00:54:43] Speaker B: Let's get into Features Capital. So let's start with the why.
What led to your decision to co found your own fund?
[00:54:53] Speaker C: So Features Capital is the genesis of my Kaufman Fellows project as well as time and experience.
So in 2021 I was still, still a little bit of the pandemic. And I just kept thinking that same question which I mentioned earlier is there has to be a better way. And traditional early stage medtech venture has been doing a lot of the similar things for many decades and it's been phenomenal. The firms who've paved the way, who I aspire to be, who are the luminaries really have been successful in this model. I was also becoming so aware and curious about how could we improve this and how could we make it better? You're seeing a theme here, right?
And so I thought, gosh, there's some brilliant founders who I've been getting to know. And I thought it was time, it was time to take that leap, really put an institutional framework, find the right co founder. So Jeff Chu, who is my brilliant, brilliant co founder, we come from two very different backgrounds. He's a biomedical engineer by training. He is a founder who had a very successful exit. And he rolls up his sleeves and has started, helped start over a hundred companies.
And with that, the combination of the two of us enables us to really be nimble and make quick decisions, really dive in and get deep into technology and market opportunities to create the future of MedTech Venture. Right. So we're building a firm of the future. We're building it now. We're flying the plane. While we're building the plane and serving drinks with a smile and cleaning the toilet and, and you know, all of this fun stuff, it's called an emerging manager. And I'd like to share with you some of our insights. One of our taglines is MedTech Unlocked. And part of that is we are unlocking this mystery of medtech that unless you're living and breathing medtech, you really don't know. And we meet a lot of people who are curious.
So we're unlocking MedTech for institutional capital, for our LPs.
And we're also unlocking MedTech which is that access to capital for the founders. Oftentimes a first time founder.
[00:57:17] Speaker B: You had said the phrase, I knew it was time.
I feel, at least just in my experience, that is the go, no go decision for every MedTech leader. Knowing it's time and doing something about it are two very different things.
So what got you from going?
I'm curious, I'm asking the right questions. The question I'm asking is how can we do it better? There's gotta be a better way.
What brought you from in your brain to actually making a step?
[00:57:49] Speaker C: Great question. And I'm really proud to share this journey with the audience because I think it's important for all of us, people who've been in my shoes and people who are looking to do this, you know, it is really hard. It's really scary. There is not a pool of capital just sitting there to, you know, fund all of this. You really have to think of it as a founder, an entrepreneurial journey to start a firm.
But quite honestly, I had never seen people like me starting a venture fund until I joined Kaufman Fellows. And I have the most brilliant class, class 26. Best class ever. And I saw people like me, I saw moms, I saw diverse founders of their own funds who are raising funds across the globe. And I realized, oh my gosh, like, I don't need to do what I've always thought was the way to run a venture fund. And I was told many times about the trajectory in venture until I saw it with my own eyes. And I think that's important for founders to also be aware of.
Hey, it's okay. You can take this leap, surround yourself with people who've done it before, people who've been in the industry.
If they want to be a founder and they have this dream and they have this goal or an idea.
You know, there's only so many times you can keep writing a business plan when you're on an airplane over and over and over again with your strategy and until you actually go, hey, I'm already doing this. Us, let's just jump.
[00:59:28] Speaker B: Yes. Hear, hear.
[00:59:29] Speaker C: Love that.
[00:59:30] Speaker B: I hope that this inspires even just one person to get off that napkin and do something. Pick up the phone and make that phone call.
[00:59:40] Speaker A: We're going to take a quick break from our conversation to hear from this episode's sponsor, SHL Healthcare.
[00:59:48] Speaker B: So Purr. As I understand it, you're not just a contract manufacturer, you also act as an R and D extension for some customers. Is that right?
[00:59:57] Speaker E: Correct. We operate different R and D teams across our sites. For example, in Sweden we have TCX Textile center of Excellence that many customers use as an outsourced R and D partner.
It's where we test materials, build early prototypes, solve technical challenges before the designs are locked in.
This early collaboration is what enables a smooth design transfer into high volume production later on in our factories in China or Bulgaria for our OEM partners.
Moreover, this role is what turns a supplier relationship into a long term strategic partnership.
[01:00:36] Speaker B: Per you work with many US based MedTech companies, how does your global footprint support them today and how might that evolve?
[01:00:44] Speaker E: Yes, you're right.
A large part of our business involves working with leading US medical device OEMs.
With our manufacturing and our R and D hubs in Europe and Asia, we're able to provide value added services that offer greater flexibility and also reducing logistic disruptions and manufacturing risks.
Strategically, we're actively evaluating to expand into North America if the right opportunity aligns with our customer needs and our long term value creation. Our ambition is clear to be the most trusted manufacturing partner for complex medical devices in our area of expertise wherever our customer needs us.
[01:01:26] Speaker B: Well, Purb Bjorkman, Chief Commercial Officer for SHL Healthcare thank you so much for joining me on the podcast. I loved every second of it.
[01:01:35] Speaker E: Thank you. And thank you for having me.
[01:01:38] Speaker B: And to our audience, if you want to learn more about SHL Healthcare and how they work with medical device companies, please visit their website. It's at www.shl-healthcare.com Once again, that's shl-healthcare.com and as a special treat, SHL Healthcare has left you a white paper highlighting the outcomes of using the combination of advanced against sewing, welding and electromechanical assembly. You can get that white paper right here in the show notes. Thank you to SHL Healthcare. We loved learning more about you. We appreciate you.
[01:02:16] Speaker A: Now it's time for the conclusion of our keynote conversation with Jenny Barber of Features Capital.
[01:02:24] Speaker B: You mentioned that you're unlocking MedTech and you're bringing opportunity to early stage companies. And you're, you're absolutely right. They're just, there's not a lot of investment opportunity for early stage when they need it the most. So first, how would you describe Features Capital's investment focus?
So markets, maybe company sizes like kind of talk us through that.
[01:02:47] Speaker C: Yes. So we have a unique approach.
We invest at the seed, series A and series B stage of companies.
[01:02:55] Speaker B: That is early.
[01:02:56] Speaker C: Yeah, it is early and it's really with our four point vetting process that really focuses on the team, the product market fit, the scalability and the opportunity. So we're not looking for another add on or a widget to an end of a catheter. We are really looking for disruptive technologies that are going to be the number one or number two market leaders in multiple billion dollar global markets. And we know that sounds massive, but it is possible. We have a couple of companies in our portfolio today that are on that trajectory and we invest at I would say two fulcrums of the spectrum. One is the first in human clinical stage and then the other is first in revenue stage. And those categories are a little bit broadly defined. But when you take a deeper dive and you get to know these companies, we see almost a thousand companies a year in this space and we are starting to see patterns and scalability in our model that enables us to do the diligence, do the analysis it takes to be that early stage investor.
So as I said, I just want to make sure you heard really investing at that first in human clinical stage. So first patient, first five patients or the first in revenue.
[01:04:23] Speaker B: So how do you.
Well, I guess maybe it's a two parter question here, Jenny. One, are you attracted to the risk? And the second part of that is how do you mitigate that risk or manage that risk?
[01:04:35] Speaker C: That is also a theme in my life.
So oftentimes I will set a goal and seek out and do what it takes to achieve that goal. So when you're thinking about risk, I Don't know if you've ever done the Enneagram, but I'm a six with a three and a nine. So apparently the six means that you do a lot of analysis, a lot of research.
And when I found this out, I was like, oh my gosh, this makes a hundred percent sense. In like everything I've ever done where I do a lot of analysis and then once I make a decision, it all just makes sense and it flows.
[01:05:14] Speaker B: Flows.
[01:05:14] Speaker C: So with that, with your question about risk, yes, things are risky. It is our job to take that risk and also do all the things necessary to mitigate the risk pivot, you know, be capital efficient, work on the team dynamics, you know, bring in the right people at the right time. And honestly, there has never been a better time in, in world history to be a medtech investor and to be an early stage medtech investor. Because the innovation that is coming out now from research hubs, innovation centers, physicians, surgeons and engineers is only leapfrogging what has already existed. And also this shift in behavior, in being able to be nimble, that's a theme we're seeing to be utilized.
Big tech and their, their developments in technology now applying that into medtech. So the convergence of big tech into things like neuromodulation, brain computer interface, things beyond traditional cardiology stents, that was the really that first wave in orthopedics and fast forward. I think the next five to ten years of medtech innovation is going to just, just wow the entire planet.
[01:06:40] Speaker B: So encouraging.
And I always kind of cringe when I start thinking about where the, the venture capital world can go when it comes to medtech and because it doesn't always sound so positive and I think in our current world of uncertainty, hearing that there is opportunity is exactly what I think so many people need to hear right now.
[01:07:06] Speaker C: Well Kayleen, I have some fun facts for you.
[01:07:09] Speaker B: Lay them on me.
[01:07:10] Speaker C: 2025 is the all time high in medical device investments. So if we're starting from 2025, building upon the years prior, I think we're going into 2026 with a lot of optimism. It was a extremely strong year with several large unicorn and multi billion dollar exits, as well as the opening of the IPO window, I do believe that there has never been a stronger IPO backlog in medtech history.
So I think we're going to see a wave of very strong companies, plus this wave of continued M and A. As Jonathan Norris from hsbc, you know, always says, the medtech is the steady eddy and so it really Is the secret at Sauce that a lot of people don't know about of how you can make returns and attractive returns in medtech. The data shows that the quantity of rounds has doubled since 2023. So really as a boots on the ground early stage investor, you know, we do see that dearth of early stage venture funds. So for us this means it's a buyer's market and a shift for a lot of the funds to go later stage. Which means that then there's a pipeline for us as our companies grow.
[01:08:30] Speaker B: Ooh, again, so encouraging. And I love those fun facts. If you were the, the the founder and the team of an emerging medtech that's looking to get funded, what would you tell them what quote unquote fundable looks like right now in 2026?
[01:08:49] Speaker C: Data.
So whatever the data package is that you're working on, if it's the clinical data, if it's the prototype data. I'm a big fan of engineer founders, physician founders who are very methodical about putting things together, knowing that there will be a pivot. I think being in the driver's seat of your own destiny is incredibly important.
And the goalposts are changing. So traditionally there had been some very pattern rigid structures of goalposts. I think founders really need to focus and hunker down on capital efficiency and doing more with less. I think that is is the name of the game for 2026 and getting to those value inflection points while also being very aware, very open that understanding what the later stage investors and the strategics are doing and looking for.
Because having multiple paths, paths to commercialization, multiple paths to exit are really important here because the best companies are bought, not sold. So for example, for founders, some tips, I have a couple tips for you and the audience. Physicians get their input early, really know the different types of physicians in the diseases that you are solving for. So get those clinical advisory boards and scientific advisory boards make sure that they have a broad reach. So community hospital, research hospital international, whatever it is, get those experts in early and get them in together.
That team building and community aspect of building a company, then the board governance aspect is also very important because it shows that you're institutional ready or you are have an institutional mindset. When you're ready to bring on institutional capital, I think that's important.
For founders. The data, as I said, is your best currency.
So thinking ahead here for founders, making sure it's the clinical outcomes, understanding ease of use and the continuum of care preferences from different types of physicians so that this Therapy.
The goal here is to have it be the first utilization, the first therapy, minimally invasive of course, or treating patients at home, preventative care.
Making sure that drive for product differentiation is in the DNA of the technology.
With physician preferences, values analysis committees and reimbursements and group purchasing organizations really impact the decision making once a company is ready for commercialization. These are things that a lot of first time and early stage founders they don't do early on.
Even things like scalability and design for manufacturing, utilizing partners along the way that can grow with you and supply chain resilience. Oftentimes there's a pattern where companies wait to do a lot of this and I think the earlier people can start talking about all of these big components of Medtech. I think the higher success for the company and for the technologies to get to market.
[01:12:00] Speaker B: Jenny, that's like somebody could pop in and just dominate Medtech within this like last two minutes.
[01:12:07] Speaker C: So thanks for that.
[01:12:08] Speaker B: That's also makes me think that this is how you manage your fund and your portfolio companies with this clear direction, this passion and this curiosity and openness to do things slightly differently.
Jenny this made me think that there's, there's this perception that there are only a certain number of deal types, traditional deals, and that's all the opportunity do you see in 2026 and beyond, more custom or unique deals and more opportunities for those deals.
[01:12:45] Speaker C: Definitely, definitely. We actually pride ourselves on customization. We led a spin out of a company last year. So this is a perfect example. We have seven portfolio companies to date and one of our companies we spun out of a logistics business and created a standalone early stage medtech company that's commercial and it's a company called ResidentLink Medical. And they are global.
They work with all of the current leading implantable companies as well as the next gen and future implantable companies.
And this technology was inside of a logistics business.
And so it was really when they came to us, when one of the co founders came to us and asked for advice on what to do, we said hey, we need to spin this out. We need to create a standalone company. We brought in an amazing CEO, Amari Boknight, we brought in Ray Cohen for the board and the company is just crushing it and I hope they, I hope you get to meet them.
[01:13:47] Speaker B: I actually moderated a panel discussion with Resonant Link and became a hyper fan within seconds. Tell me about your other portfolio companies. As much as you can share.
[01:13:58] Speaker C: Yes.
So one of our portfolio companies, we led the series BE for a company called LaPlace Interventional, headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota. LaPlace has an amazing technology to treat patients with tricuspid valve regurgitation. So tricuspid valve is traditionally known as the forgotten valve. However, I'm very familiar with this valve because my mother had open heart tricuspid surgery and was in the ICU for two days and in the hospital for a week.
So with that we did our diligence, got to know the founder very early and and led the Series B. They now have over 40 patients implanted in their first in human study. They're preparing for their Pivotal. They're raising $100 million Series D. The data is phenomenal. So tricuspid heart valve, minimally invasive transcatheter implant.
We have a company called Biolink. Biolink is headquartered in San Diego.
I think you know Rebecca Gottlieb, my
[01:15:06] Speaker B: 2025 MedTech Person of the year. Yes, I love Biolink.
[01:15:12] Speaker C: So Biolink is the first ever FDA approved fully autonomous biosensor focusing on continuous glucose monitoring as well as I, I call it metabolic disease and CGM plus.
So I think stay on the edge of your seat for that one. They are a rocket ship. We have a company, it's our first SaaS AI company that is focused on the pharmacist medical therapy management market. So this is one of our like taking something antiquated and making it cool in tech in the pharmacist market, solving some big challenges there to help drive efficiencies and access for people who have multiple medications and that, that's actually a very large part of our population.
We have an investment in a company called Prana Surgical. So someone you should definitely add to your podcast list is Joanna Nathan. Joanna is an engineer, has her degree in engineering from Rice and started Prana Surgical out of Texas Medical center and jlabs. We invested in Prana.
They now have their first in human patients in Australia.
Prana is solving a major unmet need in the lung cancer space. And I've always wanted to do something in lung and they are minimally invasive technology to remove large nodules from the lung and then they're using ablation to seal the tissue of the lung. And this is a very critical innovation and a solution that over 14 million patients in the US are supposed to be screened for lung cancer. But then once a patient is screened and a nodule or a growth is observed, oftentimes the standard of care and the guidelines are to watch and wait. Which really isn't fun if you're a patient and you're just told to Watch and wait. A lot of concern. Then after a nodule grows large enough, the standard of care is to go to the tumor board, the tumor committee within the hospital, and then if the patient is approved, a lung resection. So an invasive surgery. So with that, Prana is on its way. They're raising a series B right now. And Joanna is definitely someone you should put on your. On your call.
[01:17:40] Speaker B: Sold. Sign me up and I'll take an E introduction if you don't mind.
[01:17:45] Speaker C: Perfect. Happy to. Oh, can I just name one more?
One of our portfolio companies is named Aprexis, which equips pharmacists with a clinical toolbox for patients and their comprehensive care.
Another exciting company is Phyx.
And Phyx is a disruptive technology that replaces cancer causing sterilants used for the medical device sterilization and supply chain industry.
[01:18:11] Speaker B: You are just, these are the top people and the top companies of my heart.
CL is one of my all time favorite people. I just had an amazing dinner with CL recently. I love what Phyx Technologies is doing.
[01:18:27] Speaker C: We love how, you know all of our founders. It's really exciting.
[01:18:31] Speaker B: I'm telling you, I think that we're soul sisters or something because we are so connected. Jenny. And then again, I'm just like everybody that you're mentioning. I'm. My heart is fluttering. Oh, what privilege we have to be in this industry and to be surrounded by some of the most incredible people and technologies. Jenny, this has been so much fun. I want to reluctantly and begrudgingly bring us to a close.
Otherwise I'm going to, I'm going to take your time for another two, three hours.
So let's have sort of just a last thought for our audience. Is there something that you or Futures Capital are seeing in medtech tech that you think our audience should know about?
[01:19:12] Speaker C: Yes, I am seeing the most brilliant founders and there are researchers and engineers and physicians and surgeons out there who've always thought they have to try to do something to save and help and treat their patients. And we're spending time on the ground with these research institutes and innovation hubs.
And I would love to say to anyone listening to this podcast to call your other founders to create community, to work together, to do these big hard things.
Because at the end of the day, we are saving lives. We are saving hundreds of millions of lives. You audience that's listening out there in Medtech. It's a journey and we're better in this together.
[01:20:04] Speaker B: You're here. Jenny Barba, co founder and managing partner for Features Capital. Thank you so Much for joining us on Device Talks Weekly. I feel like I've met a new friend. You've reignited my passion for medtech and I enjoyed every second with you. Thanks for joining us.
[01:20:22] Speaker C: Thank you Kayleen, and looking forward to seeing you again soon.
And I just wanted to shout out since we're still recording that Device Talks podcast has been my all time favorite podcast number one on my podcast list. So all my commuting days down to Boston for five years, anytime I'm in the car by myself without listening to K Pop or Kendrick Lamar or some other teeny bop thing, medtech and Device Talks are number one on my podcast list.
[01:20:56] Speaker B: Jenny, thank you. I'm for sure keeping this in. So thank you.
That warms my heart more than you know. Thank you. And I can't wait to see you again soon and continue our conversation. Thanks again.
[01:21:08] Speaker C: Thank you.
[01:21:11] Speaker A: All right, that is a wrap. Thanks so much for joining Kayleen Brown on this week's Device Talks Weekly podcast. Thanks of course to our sponsor SHL Healthcare. Please make sure you go to our show Notes.
You can find SHL Healthcare's white paper there. It highlights the outcomes of using combination of advanced sewing, welding and electromechanical assembly. Please join us on Tuesday as well for Device Talks Tuesday. It's brought to you by Intratech. It's called the Convergence of Cybersecurity and AI Regulatory Requirements in Medical Devices.
You can watch that live, you can watch it on demand, you can ask questions either way. Go to devicetalks.com to register for that. All right. Other than that, I hope you subscribe to the Device Talks Podcast network so you don't miss a future episode of this or other amazing podcasts. And please do also connect with Kayleen Brown on LinkedIn. This is her show after all. Connect with me as well. If you have some extra time, please follow Device Talks, connect with Chris Newmarker and follow Mass Device. We'd love to be part of your future Med Tech conversations. In fact, please join our conversations at our upcoming Device Talks events, Device Talks Minnesota on May 4th and Device Talks Boston on May 27th and 28th. Thanks so much for joining Kayleen Brown on this episode of the Device Talks Weekly podcast.
