Surgical Innovation Associates, a medical device spin-out from Northwestern University, has raised a new round of funding as it aims to develop surgical tools that improve patient outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
The Chicago-based startup announced Wednesday that it raised $4 million in a Series A round that included Harvard Business School Angels and Minneapolis-based Gopher Angels. The financing brings SIA’s total funding to $6.5 million.
SIA, founded in 2016, is developing and commercializing medical products used in reconstructive and aesthetic surgery. The new funding will help the startup commercialize its products, receive necessary regulatory approvals and finance development of future products.
“Gopher Angels has a long history of investing in medical devices, and we are excited to add Surgical Innovation Associates to our portfolio,” said Paul Hansen, a Gopher Angels investor and the former president of 3M Mexico, in a statement. “We are confident that the commitment of the leadership team will enable SIA to continue to make groundbreaking advancements in healthcare.”
SIA was co-founded by CEO Alexei Mlodinow while he was a dual MD-MBA student at Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine and Kellogg School of Management.
Many of SIA’s devices are still in the development stage as the company works to get clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but others are being used in operating rooms by physicians. In September, SIA announced that its DuraSorb Monofilament Mesh, a bioabsorbable mesh used in soft tissue reconstruction procedures, was used for the first time in an operating room. Development on the DuraSorb began in 2016 and it received FDA clearance in 2018.
SIA also announced Wednesday that Ryan Egleland, a multidisciplinary medical device executive and the chief medical officer of Cardiovascular Systems Inc., joined the startup’s board.
