Koa Accel Launches as New Type of Medical Device Accelerator, Embedding Expert, Invested Teams to Drive Innovations Forward, ...
September 12 2019 - 8:00AM
In a move to develop medical devices faster, at a lower cost, and
with a greater likelihood of a successful exit, Koa Accel today
announced its launch as a next generation medical device
accelerator. While mentorship and access to a modicum of business
services is the cornerstone of most accelerators, Koa embeds an
experienced team covering all of the critical areas of early stage
medical device development. This allows Koa to fail fast or rapidly
advance the venture as a de-risked startup.
Koa Accel is led by two entrepreneurial co-founders with
complementary skillsets. Dr. Francis Duhay is a world renowned
cardiothoracic surgeon and former corporate executive in the
medical device industry, while Ray Chan brings extensive experience
in venture capital and private equity financing. Dr. Duhay served
as Chief Medical Officer for Edwards Lifesciences (NYSE: EW, market
cap $40 billion), founded and ran several medical device start-ups
(Aegis Surgical, Atrius, Kino Biosciences, Makani Science, and
Microdermics), and is a former Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery and
Cardiology at Kaiser Permanente. Mr. Chan is a successful
entrepreneur, board member, and venture capitalist, who is
currently serving as Chairman of medical device company
Microdermics, Inc., Managing Director of K5 Ventures, and a member
of the Investment Committee for Tech Coast Angels’ ACE Funds.
In addition to Duhay and Chan, the broader 40-plus members of
the Koa team encompass over 750 years of medical device experience
across the continuum, including intellectual property law, market
research, upstream marketing, engineering, product development,
regulatory and clinical affairs, health economics and
reimbursement, project management, downstream marketing,
manufacturing/operations, and commercialization. Koa
team members’ real world experiences were derived from industry
leaders such as Agilent, Alcon, Beckman-Coulter, Cardinal Health,
Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, St. Jude Medical and
Thermo-Fischer; hundreds of start-ups; and premier academic centers
such as Duke University, Massachusetts General Hospital, University
of California Irvine, University of California Los Angeles,
University of California San Francisco, and the University of
Southern California.
“Koa Accel is committed to the advancement of medical devices
and the tremendous benefits they confer on society. Yet, early
stage medical device funding is faced with unprecedented
headwinds,” said Dr. Duhay. “Investors today are often discouraged
by the long payback period and high failure rates, often exceeding
90 percent. Importantly, these can be attributed to poor business
execution, dysfunctional management, or both – not bad technology.
By embedding an experienced team of business functional experts and
managers into each portfolio company from the start, Koa intends to
develop medical devices in less time and with significantly less
investment than the traditional model. From the investors’
perspective, the outcome is a de-risked venture.”
“The Koa team is our secret weapon,” said Mr. Chan. “The problem
is that medical device company founders often lack the business
acumen, professional networks, and financial capital to assemble a
large team of business functional experts. Koa provides a one-stop
shop for everything they need. Think of it as the Navy SEAL team
that is deployed and does all the heavy lifting. Our team is as
invested in the startup success as the inventors and investors,
with all parties having ‘skin in the game.’ At Koa, everybody’s
interests are perfectly aligned to achieve the desired goal in a
fraction of the time with limited investor dilution.”
The company’s first two portfolio companies are Makani Science,
developer of the only wireless, wearable sensor designed to
continuously monitor a patient’s breathing rate and pulmonary
volumes during medical or dental procedures, and Microdermics, a
platform technology enabling continuous monitoring of multiple
analytes using microsensors the size of a mosquito’s proboscis.
Koa intends to accelerate one new medical device each
quarter.
Inventors interested in applying to be a Koa company and
investors looking to get involved in the venture can learn more at
www.koaaccel.com.
ABOUT KOA ACCEL
Koa Accel (www.koaaccel.com) is the next evolutionary step in
medical device acceleration. Rather than “incubate” or ”accelerate”
companies in the classic sense, Koa embeds an expert team
experienced in every area of medical device development into its
portfolio companies to work with founders. The process is designed
to develop medical devices faster, at lower cost, with greater
likelihood of a successful exit, while safeguarding investor
equity. The company is based in Irvine, California.
MEDIA CONTACT:Michelle McAdamChronic
Communications, Inc.michelle@chronic-communications.com(310)
902-1274
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