Syncro Medical Innovations develops the BlueTube, a magnetically guided feeding tube designed to deliver nutrition to the duodenum and upper small intestine of critically ill patients. The device uses magnets to position the tube at the proper point and is currently in use at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. The company says food is better absorbed through the duodenum than the stomach. Syncro plans to use recent funding to beef up marketing efforts and to pursue European regulatory approval of the BlueTube; CEO Gary Wakeford told a local business journal in June he hoped to secure European approval within six months. Financially, the company has received multiple debt infusions, including a $500,000 debt round reported in a recent SEC filing, plus prior $800,000 in May and $500,000 last summer. Syncro also raised $2.2 million in private equity in February 2006 led by Norwich Ventures and has received public funding from the Department of Defense and Ohio’s Third Frontier program. Syncro Medical Innovations develops the Syncro BlueTube, a feeding tube designed to deliver nutrition into the duodenum (small bowel) for critically ill, burn and trauma patients. The tube uses a magnet in its leading end and an external magnet to guide placement; a trailing LED indicates successful capture. After nurse concerns about MRI safety, the company spent $2 million over two years redesigning the device so the magnet stack is removed after positioning and obtained another FDA approval. Syncro has been selling the BlueTube to at least one hospital for four years and has aggressively taken the product to market domestically in the last six months. To support a larger marketing push the company has raised additional debt and continues to seek financing to expand adoption. Syncro Medical Innovations is a four-year-old feeding-tube maker based in Youngstown, Ohio. Its core product, the Syncro Blue Tube (also called the Gabriel Feeding Tube), is an intestinal feeding tube guided past the stomach to the duodenum using an external magnet. The bedside procedure is intended to eliminate the need for fluoroscopy, endoscopy or medications and to reduce the number of X-rays. According to an SEC filing, the company raised $500,000 through debt to support commercialization. The company told VentureWire the funds will help bring the Syncro Blue Tube to market by the end of this year. Syncro does not have a website, though older demonstration and patient videos are available on YouTube. Syncro Medical Innovations makes enteral feeding tubes tipped with a magnet that allows medical personnel to guide the tube down the esophagus, through the stomach and into the small intestine using an external magnet. The company is based in St. Petersburg, Fla. Syncro recently completed a $300,000 bridge financing provided by Norwich Ventures. That bridge is intended to lead into an expected $5 million financing round later this year. The fundraising activity indicates the company is pursuing follow-on capital to advance its product commercialization or development. No revenue or user metrics were disclosed in the article.

Total raised

$2M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Debt Financing

Latest activity

Aug 2010