Perkins biomedical engineer and co-founder of the medical technology start-up VeinTech, Nik Bappoo, and his team took out the prestigious $10,000 Medtronic Prize at this year’s 2021 MedTech Actuator Origin pitch competition.
Nik and the VeinTech team were awarded for their pitch of the innovative VeinWave device, a simple imaging technology to reduce cannulation attempts in difficult access patients. The technology aims to reduce the failure rate of cannulation (inserting a needle into a vein), and subsequently reducing staff and patient stress, saving valuable time and hospital resources.
With entries from across the Asia-Pacific region, The MedTech Actuator Origin program is a major pitching competition for Medical Technology start-ups.
Applications were whittled down to a semi-finalist pool of 20 start-ups. After a rapid-fire round of 60-second pitches, 12 finalists were chosen to pitch in the final Gala Event, run online for the first time in its seven-year history. VeinTech was among finalists chosen and were given the opportunity to pitch the VeinWave.
VeinTech was co-founded by Nik, Emergency Consultant Dr Katherine Arenson and Telethon Kids Researcher Nick Buckley, and within six months of the start-up’s inception the team had identified an unmet clinical need and developed a solution to address the need through the Perth Biodesign program.
Recently the team reached the milestone of a proof-of-concept device for VeinWave, and plan to put the award funding to good use in establishing a clinical prototype over the next few months that can eventually be used first in human trials.
