Nonprofit venture development organization
JumpStart has awarded $250,000 to Guided Interventions, a medical startup that will call the
Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE) in Elyria home.
The grant will go toward Guided Interventions’ project to commercialize a new product that uses pressure sensors to better assess the physiological impact of coronary artery blockages at a more affordable cost. Cardiologist and CEO, Dr. Matthew Pollman, says the funding was the “tipping point” for their decision to locate in Northeast Ohio.
“The support from JumpStart was absolutely critical,” says Pollman. “The reward provides us with the opportunity to quickly take our company to the next level of growth.”
Pollman now turns to Ohio after co-founding a medical device company in the San Francisco Bay area in 2008, CV Ingenuity. During a period of economic duress across the country, Pollman found a more supportive environment for entrepreneurs in Northeast Ohio. He notes, “The contrasts with Northeast Ohio couldn’t be more stark.”
Once CV Ingenuity was acquired by Covidien earlier this month, Pollman took the opportunity to return to his childhood state where he has served as a member of the Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center’s advisory board in Cleveland since 2007. He sees tremendous promise in the state of Ohio’s entrepreneurial and innovation community.
“I have witnessed first hand how proactive the state of Ohio has been in promoting and supporting the build out of a critical mass of technical talent and infrastructure to foster and nurture technology development companies at all stages of their growth.”
Source: Dr. Matthew Pollman
Writer: Joe Baur