As a urological surgeon for OhioHealth, Wayne Poll knew there must be a way to keep his laparoscopic lenses clear without constantly having to stop and clean them. While it took him 10 years to bring that vision to fruition, Poll's FloShield is now in the marketplace.
"I tried going to companies with my ideas, and I did that for ten years," says Poll, whose Columbus-based Minimally Invasive Devices gained FDA clearance for the product last year. "But I was constantly frustrated. I got to know some people and entered the Ohio State University (Fisher College of Business) 2006 business plan competition, and we won it. That got us some momentum and we started to raise money."
With the help of TechColumbus, a technology business incubator serving a 15-county area in Central Ohio, MID raised an initial $200,000 in start-up capital and a total of $2.4 million in angel funds, a portion of which came from funds supported by the Ohio Third Frontier. In October, following FDA approval of FloShield, the company raised $2 million in Series B funding.
FloShield works by keeping air flowing around the end of the scope, blowing away debris that can obscure a clear image at the surgical site. Poll says the company, so far, has sold about 600 of the devices and has introduced a new product, FloShield Plus, that uses a saline solution to clear the lens.
MID was founded in 2006 and grew from one employee to five this year. Poll serves as MID's founder and chief executive officer and as director of innovation for the OhioHealth system.
Source: Wayne Poll, Minimally Invasive Devices
Writer: Gene Monteith