NOvate Medical Technologies Wins Coulter Challenge

NOvate Medical Technologies was selected winner of the 2011 New Orleans Entrepreneur Week IDEApitch, which culminated with a investment pitch opportunity led by Jim Coulter, founding partner of TPG Capital.

NOvate Medical Technologies is a New Orleans-based medical device development company focused on commercializing low-cost medical products. NOvate’s first product offering, SafeSnip, is aimed at decreasing healthcare costs and increasing standards of care while addressing global health issues. SafeSnip is a disposable obstetric device that simultaneously cuts, clamps, and shields the umbilical cord from infection. The core technology, developed at Tulane University by a team of Biomedical Engineers, will become the foundation of a differentiated product line to provide front-line neonatal diagnostics, infant tracking, and umbilical cord blood collection.

Twenty-four-year-old William Kethman, VP of Research and Development at NOvate Medical Technologies, applied for the patent for SafeSnip with schoolmates Bryan Molter, Stephanie Roberts and Mark Young, as well as David Rice, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Tulane University.  “I started this company because I wanted to make a difference and save lives,” said Kethman, who is also currently a student at Tulane Medical school. “I am grateful for the amazing opportunity that The Idea Village™ has presented to me and for everyone involved in this world-class event.” Kethman previously designed products for NASA and developed software used by medical schools.

NOvate was selected through a combination of live, American Idol-style audience voting via consensor technology and the panel vote, and will receive a suite of HP office products, $5k of legal services from Jones Walker, an all-access trip to San Francisco, arranged by Jim Coulter and TPG Capital, to meet with top investors, as well as a custom designed presentation for use during the trip to San Francisco provided by ProPoint Graphics.

After an exhaustive vetting process, led by the IDEApitch Nominating Committee,  five New Orleans entrepreneurs were selected to pitch their ventures to the prominent investor panel led by Coulter plus Jeff Schwartz of Bain Capital, Kevin Clifford of American Funds, Jani Byrne of IBM Venture Capital, Jeff Brody of Redpoint Ventures, Jim Counihan of Prism VentureWorks and Richard Korhammer of Lava Trading.

2011 IDEApitch entrepreneurs included Federated Sample, Naked Pizza, Spa Workshop, Mini Vax and NOvate Medical Technologies, LLC.