RCT Ventures Announces FLI Medical Innovations Wins the MedTech Idol Qualifying Round at IN3 Summit
10.25.2013
TUCSON, Ariz., Oct 25, 2013 — RCT Ventures, an investment program of Research Corporation Technologies focused on early-stage biomedical companies, announced that FLI Medical Innovations is the winner of the MedTech Idol Qualifying Round at IN3 Summit. Unlike other venture competitions, MedTech Idol allows the audience to choose the winner.
The final phase of the competition took place live on-stage during Elsevier Business Intelligence’s (EBI) Investment In Innovation (IN3) Medical Device 360° Summit on October 17 in San Francisco. “MedTech Idol was the highlight of this year’s IN3 meeting,” said David Cassak, EBI’s VP of Content. “Not only is it a fun and engaging event, it captures nicely the creativity and initiative alive in the medical device start-up world and showcases some truly ingenious technologies just coming out of the gate.”
The Qualifying Round for MedTech Idol 2014 began in September, when 51 early-stage medical device companies submitted their plans. An independent panel of investor judges reviewed the entries to select the MedTech Idol Top 10. The judges included Christopher P. Martin, President, RCT Ventures; Paul Grand, Managing Director, RCT Ventures; Ned Scheetz, Founder & Managing Director, Aphelion Capital; and Renee C. Ryan, Vice President, Venture Investments, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation (JJDC). The competition was produced by RCT Ventures and Grand served as the event’s master of ceremonies.
“Our MedTech Idol 2013 event was so successful at identifying high-quality early-stage MedTech opportunities that we decided to expand it to include qualifying rounds leading up to the Final Round at MedTech Idol 2014”, said Grand. “The IN3 Summit was a great venue for our first qualifying round, as it is well-attended by industry professionals and investors actively investing in early-stage MedTech.”
After reviewing the 51 entries, the judges selected 10 companies to participate in the second phase of the competition, during which each was tasked with producing a one-minute video. The videos were used to select four companies to compete live on-stage during the IN3 Summit in front of an audience of investors and medical device industry professionals. The audience then used their mobile devices to choose the winner, which was FLI Medical Innovations. FLI’s primary product is a novel medical device, the Francis Lamont Orthopaedic Table Extension (FLOTE), designed to assist surgeons in direct anterior hip replacement surgery.
FLI will now compete in the MedTech Idol 2014 Final Round, which will be held in mid-2014 during the 22nd Annual Medical Device Conference, hosted by law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. EBI sponsored the prize, which was designed to provide wide exposure for the winner. FLI will get a presenting slot at an upcoming IN3 Medical Device conference, and the company will be profiled in an upcoming issue of Elsevier’s monthly magazine START-UP: The Review of Emerging Medical Ventures. “Short of actually having proven success with your innovation, there is nothing more revealing, challenging and ultimately more satisfying than being judged by your unbiased peers – this is the true value of MedTech Idol to any entrepreneur,” said Malcolm Wootton, CEO of FLI Medical Innovations.
For detailed information on each of the MedTech Idol Top 10 companies, see http://www.medtechidol.com.
About RCT Ventures
RCT Ventures is an early-stage biomedical investment program of Tucson, Ariz.-based Research Corporation Technologies, Inc. To learn more about RCT and RCT Ventures, see www.rctech.com. To submit opportunities for investment, please contact Paul Grand at pgrand@rctech.com.
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