MDI Partners was founded in 2004 to design and develop innovative medical devices that will improve the quality of treatment for patients in a cost-effective manner.
The company was founded as a result of the mutual recognition by four experienced medical device leaders that there is an unmet need for financial support and management expertise in the development of promising medical device technologies for smaller markets that are below the threshold of interest for traditional venture capital. In general, these products are innovative medical devices with strong patents, a fairly straight-forward design, development and regulatory pathway, and multiple potential acquiring companies with an interest in the specific area of technology.
Ideal products are ones where the company estimates it can take a product from inception to a fully functional prototype, FDA approval and exit on an investment of between $500,000 and $2,000,000. The process begins with an assessment of how a given project fits key elements of the MDI model. When a project meets certain criteria, the company spins the intellectual property out as a new company with a research and development plan for investors to evaluate. Equity is split between Medical Device Innovations, the inventors, experts that are brought in to develop the technology, and the investors. The product is developed to the point where the most advantageous exit can be achieved. The exit strategy is to ultimately sell the developed product to one of the medical device market leaders in a one-time acquisition of assets.