Great Lakes Venture Fair

Last week, Regulatory and Quality Solutions, attended the first Great Lakes Venture Fair (GLVF). The fast-paced day-and-a-half event (Wednesday, October 17, 2012 and Thursday, October 18, 2012) was held in downtown Cleveland, OH and featured some of the highest potential entrepreneurs and their venture-backable companies from Ohio and the Midwest. During the event, we also saw a few of our GCIC neighbors, including Securus Medical Group, Inc. and Thermalin Diabetes, LLC.

The first day of the GLVF event featured early stage opportunities and keynote speaker, Jeff Weedman, who discussed strategic venture investing. The following day featured Ohio-based early stage companies with successful strategic partnerships, company presentations, and an elevator pitch competition.

The event was full of great companies, all of which are doing exceptional things. Out of the amazing companies that participated in the GLVF, we found Checkpoint Surgical, Orthodata, Securus Medical Group, and Zuga Medical especially noteworthy.

• Checkpoint Surgical
  • GLVF Contact: Len Cosentino, President and CEO
  • Company Summary: Checkpoint Surgical was launched in August, 2009, with the mission to provide physicians with medical devices to locate, identify, evaluate, and preserve nerves and muscles in surgical procedure for better patient outcomes. CHECKPOINT® Stimulator/Locator is the company’s first product in a line of neuroprotective surgical devices – commercial sales began in 2010 and now the company is entering the growth phase.
  • Products & Services: Company’s flagship product, the CHECKPOINT ® Stimulator/Locator, is a state-of-the-art, hand-held intra-operative nerve and muscle stimulator. The CHECKPOINT ® is a single-use device that enables surgeons to locate, evaluate, and protect nerves during surgery, and make better surgical decisions.
  • Markets: Orthopedics, plastic reconstruction, otolaryngology, neurosurgery
  • Company Website: http://www.checkpointsurgical.com/

• OrthoData, Inc.
  • GLVF Contact: Ric Navarro
  • Company Summary: OrthoData, Inc. is a development stage medical device company focused on the improvement of postoperative spine fusion care. It was founded by Rolando Punom, MD and University of Lousiville engineering processors. An A round investment of $1.4 M was raised in 2008-9 to develop prototypes, secure IP, and define a regulatory path with the FDA.
  • Products & Services: OrthoData, Inc.’s innovative diagnostic system, the IntelliRod TM will allow spine surgeons to accurately assess the success of spinal fusion and eliminate the need for unnecessary exploratory surgery while accelerating patients’ return to work after surgery. The device is a clamp-on implantable wireless microsensor that measures loads in traditional spine fusion hardware. These loads are indicative of the progress or lack of progress of bone growth during fusion.
  • Market: OrthoData is intending to market the IntelliRod to spine surgeons to aid in the post-operative assessment of fusions, to hospitals to lower the cost of post-op care, to payers to lower costs of excess CT scans and exploratory surgeries and to patients who want to return as soon as possible to normal activity and work. Patients at high risk for fusion such as diabetics, obese, elderly, smokers, and workers compensation patients will be the market entry population.
  • Company Website: http://orthodatainc.com/

• Securus Medical Group, Inc.
  • GLVF Contact: Donna Richardson, President & CEO
  • Company Summary: Early stage medical device company commercializing the world’s first Infrared based esophageal temperature monitoring device to continuously measure temperature during energy delivery such as radiofrequency ablation procedures. Initial application during atrial fibrillation ablation to restore normal heart rhythm, Completed animal studies with early prototype at The Cleveland Clinic & Massachusetts General Hospital demonstrating early performance. Presently developing 9 Fr./3mm human design. Three patent submissions to date.
  • Products & Services: Infrared based Temperature Monitoring device for use in hollow body cavities. Expect to submit 510(k) it FDA in 2014.
  • Company Info: http://www.bioenterprise.com/Companies/Securus_Medical_Group

• Zuga Medical, Inc.
  • GLVF Contact: Hao Zhou, President
  • Company Summary: Zuga’s IP protected products allow general dentists to use familiar, safe, and efficient procedures to provide patients with clinically preferred implants as a substitute for less preferred bridges. In addition, dentists earn more profits with Zuga System than by installing bridges, so both the patient and the dentist receive important benefits. Zuga follows a proven industry trend and marketing model where procedures previously performed only by a narrow range of specialists are reinvented and transitioned to the mass market of general dentists.
  • Products & Services: Zuga’s Dental Implant System, with patent pending components and processes, provides a simple and cost Effective implant solution for general dentists.
  • Company Website: http://zugamedical.com/

The 1st ever Great Lakes Venture Fair was a huge success! We are excited to be a part of it and look forward to future events.

-RSpelich ^_^