Crossover and Blue Chip Investors Back Exo’s Ultrasound Vision
In the lifecycle of a company from idea to transformative technology innovator, investors play an enormous role. They are not only the financial backing that funds research and development, key hires and product development — they are also a powerful part of the company vision and strategic direction.
Exo is proud to have the support of some of the smartest and most strategic investors on the planet. From leading healthcare investors like RA Capital Management to household names like BlackRock, as well as a host of other consequential backers including Sands Capital, Pura Vida Investments, Avidity Partners, and Fiscus and Reimagined Ventures (Magnetar Capital Affiliates), Exo’s success is directly connected to the strong financial partners in its corner.
One advantage of Exo having a deep lineup of investors is the company will receive a vast array of technical, financial and industry expertise as it grows. Each venture capital partner brings a unique perspective and a wealth of specialized knowledge to the table, deepening and expanding Exo’s vision and product execution.
RA Capital Management, which led Exo’s Series C funding round, has a unique, evidence-based approach to investing in public and private healthcare and life science companies. At its core is the company’s TechAtlas research division, a scientifically trained team that maps out competitive landscapes to put data into context, identify breakthroughs, and originate conviction in new ideas.
We caught up with RA Capital Management principal Zach Scheiner, Ph.D to talk about RA Capital’s partnership with Exo, the handheld ultrasound space as a whole and the future of medtech.
On the distributed future of medical imaging:
“The ultrasound market is undergoing a fundamental transformation toward more distributed use and Exo is positioned to become a market leader as a result.”
On ultrasound’s wide-ranging impact throughout healthcare:
“Ultrasound has the potential to impact care in so many settings that it could become a new pillar of medicine, allowing healthcare providers to see what they could only hear or feel before. The ability to quickly see an obstruction or foreign object, to see fluid where there shouldn’t be, to see a heart beating, all with a device you can carry around in your pocket, is profound and enables providers to make better and faster decisions about how to care for a patient.”
On software as a key component of ultrasound’s success:
“Critically, Exo recognized from the beginning that if you’re going to put devices in the hands of a wide range of users, you need software solutions that help bring those images back into a seamless episode of care for the patient. AI apps will enable users who are not likely to be ultrasound experts to deliver care as if they were through effective training. From the beginning the team at Exo has embraced a total solution mentality which we believe sets them apart.”
On Exo’s vision to bring a user experience focus to medtech:
“Exo is bringing a tech perspective to medicine — by that I mean thinking about medical practitioners and patients as consumers and delivering technology-enabled solutions that win their business and address real unmet needs. It means integrating ‘hard tech’ and software into solutions which neither one can deliver alone. It means delivering elegance and ease-of-use to these solutions.”
RA Capital Management’s vision for the future of medtech is a guiding force for Exo, and an example of the strategic direction provided by the company’s most active investors. Having this mix of blue chip and crossover investors and medtech visionaries backing the company has shaped Exo’s vision, solidified its technology roadmap and powered its go-to-market strategy.