NEUWAVE MAKING A SPLASH IN TECH FIELD
Wisconsin State Journal
By Jennifer Braico
Laura King is president and CEO of NeuWave Medical, a Madison company that was recently named to the "Wisconsin Companies to Watch" list by the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs Network
The recent recession took a toll on many area companies, but NeuWave Medical has continued to plow ahead and was recently named a “Wisconsin Company to Watch” by the Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Network.
In recent years, the medical industry has been abuzz with minimally invasive techniques and procedures across all disciplines. In surgery, the less you disturb patients’ organs, blood, skin or tissue, the better, so the theory goes. Patients heal faster and often have better outcomes.
NeuWave is putting that theory into practice by developing medical devices that use microwave technology. The Madison-based second-stage company has raised $6 million in the past two years and was one of 30 second-stage companies to be honored with the WEN award. Companies chosen for the list must have between 6 and 99 full-time employees and between $750,000 and $50 million in annual revenue or capital.
“We are certainly honored to be a part of that group,” says NeuWave Medical’s President and CEO Laura King who worked for 22 years at GE Healthcare before joining NeuWave two years ago. “When passion, medical innovation, people and purpose meet, and you can call it work, that’s fabulous.”
NeuWave’s medical device, the Certus 140, which is currently in the 510K FDA approval process, is a tool that physicians will use to help kill cancer tumors. Using microwave energy, it oscillates water molecules a couple of billion times per second generating a lot of energy and heat, allowing physicians to do their work faster. It cauterizes blood vessels as it works, leading to less blood loss during surgery.
Lean and mean
NeuWave Medical is expecting FDA approval of its first medical device in July. Getting to that point took hard work, and King said there are some things Wisconsin could change to improve the climate for startup companies.
“The availability of capital here is a big deal and it plays a really important part, both the venture and debt side,” King said. Initiatives such as Act 255, which encourages angel investment in start-up companies by issuing tax credits for investments, also are critical, she said.
Scott Button, managing partner at Venture Investors and a NeuWave board member, credits the company with being frugal and keeping to their product development timeline. “The environment for all companies and particularly startups continues to be very challenging,” Button said. “NeuWave has done a very nice job of managing their expenses while keeping their product development on time. It helps that they are developing a product that has the potential to significantly improve patient outcomes while reducing overall health care costs.”
To weather a downturn, King recommends that small companies stay focused. “Focus on the key goals of the company and avoid spending time and resources on activities that offer little real promise for the sustained success of the company,” she advised.
Button said he has high hopes for NeuWave.
“There are risks and challenges that lay ahead for the company; however, we are confident in the team’s ability to mitigate these issues,” Button says. “This is a credit to the founders Fred Lee and Dan Van der Weide as well as Laura King and her team, from the outset their focus has been on execution, capital efficiency and creating a company culture that encourages frugality.”
Madison is particularly well suited to develop a vibrant, innovative biomedical industry, Button said. “The possibilities are endless, and there is tremendous untapped potential, particularly at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” he said. “Our experience has been that some of the greatest discoveries will come from the collaboration of engineering, computer, physical and life sciences, and NeuWave is a perfect example of this type of interdisciplinary collaboration.”
Button added that to attract high-quality management, venture capital is critical. “Madison and the state are beginning to develop a strong pool of seasoned CEOs who are looking to join startups, and to attract these managers we need to continue to ensure that we have enough seed/early-stage venture capital to support this activity within our community,” he said.