Justin Mortara, the former CEO of Milwaukee's Mortara Instrument Inc. that was sold for $330 million in 2017, is now the CEO of Madison health care artificial intelligence startup EnsoData.
Effective Nov. 16, Mortara succeeds EnsoData co-founder Chris Fernandez as CEO, the company recently announced. Fernandez is now the executive chairman and the company's first chief research officer.
Mortara was named president of EnsoData this summer. Prior to that, he was its executive chairman and an investor in the startup.
EnsoData more than doubled its headcount in the last year and currently has more than 45 full-time employees, according to the announcement. It plans to hit more than 100 employees within 24 to 36 months.
The startup nearly tripled its revenue in 2021 and is on track to roughly double it this year, the announcement said. EnsoData has raised more than $30 million in venture capital funding, including a $20 million Series A round announced this summer.
Founded in 2015, EnsoData has an FDA-cleared waveform AI technology that quickly analyzes sleep-scoring data to help clinicians diagnose and treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea.
More than 100 providers use EnsoData's technology, which has helped more than 800,000 patients to date, according to the company. As it scales under Mortara's leadership, it's looking to help 10 million patients per year through 1,000 provider organizations.
Fernandez and Mortara met in 2020 through a major EnsoData investor, according to a Nov. 17 blog post by Fernandez about the transition.
Mortara Instrument, a diagnostic cardiology and patient monitoring devices firm, sold to Chicago-based Hill-Rom Holdings Inc. for $330 million in cash in early 2017.
Since the sale of Mortara Instrument, Mortara has been involved with other local startup investing through Mortara Group LLC, as well as philanthropy efforts. He invested in New Berlin walker manufacturer Motivo Inc. in 2018 and co-chaired the United Performing Arts Fund's 2020 campaign.
EnsoData was among the winners of Wisconsin Inno's 2021 Fire Awards, a program through the Milwaukee Business Journal's sister publication that recognizes innovators that are "heating up" the state's technology and startup ecosystem.
