Columbia, SC—SC Launch Inc., the investment affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority, recently celebrated its $300,000 investment in ElectroWire Medical. Based in Lexington, ElectroWire is a cutting-edge medical device startup revolutionizing catheter-based, electrosurgical access to the left side of the heart during minimally invasive surgery. SCRA Interim President and CEO Bill Kirkland said, “We are pleased to continue our partnership with ElectroWire. Their progress represents a strong example of meaningful, market-driven innovation. We look forward to supporting their continued growth and to seeing their technology positively impact even more patients.”
ElectroWire became an SCRA Member Company in March of 2023 and received a $50,000 acceleration grant in February of this year. They became an SC Launch Inc. portfolio company with this investment.
Moved by the high cost and limited accessibility of existing transseptal puncture technology, Lexington-based cardiologist Dr. Robert Leonardi began developing a system to make the procedure more accessible. He started in his home with several rounds of trials, starting with an electrosurgical generator on the family’s ping pong table before perfecting the device.
“ElectroWire’s device is making the transseptal puncture safer and more efficient, said SCRA Senior Investment Manager, Mitch Smith. “This puncturing is a critical step in many catheter-based cardiac surgeries, such as atrial fibrillation ablation and WatchmanTM procedures, which closes off the left atrial appendage in people with atrial fibrillation.”
“The LightningWireTM transseptal puncture system will help patients, their doctors, and payors, and we appreciate the partnership with SCRA and SC Launch Inc. that is helping to commercialize it,” said ElectroWire Founder Robert Leonardi, MD, FACC, FSCAI. “Transseptal puncture is performed roughly 500,000 times annually in the United States and more than a million times globally. Our purpose-built system is expected to be safer, more precise, more efficient, and more cost-effective than historical and currently available alternatives.”
SCRA Chief Program Officer Lee MacIlwinen said, “ElectroWire’s device promises to not only provide better patient outcomes, but these improvements can mean shorter procedures, which can produce more efficiencies for hospitals and reduced costs overall.”
ElectroWire recently opened a manufacturing operation in Lexington with three employees and plans to grow to make tens of thousands of devices annually.
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Established in 2006, SC Launch Inc. is the investment affiliate of the South Carolina Research Authority. The independent, nonprofit corporation provides convertible loans and investment funding to qualifying SCRA Member Companies. The returns on this funding provide the resources for additional investments in next-generation technology startups.
Chartered in 1983 by the State of South Carolina as a public, nonprofit corporation, South Carolina Research Authority fuels the state’s innovation economy through the impact of its comprehensive services to technology-based startups, academia, and industry. SCRA provides funding and support to accelerate the growth of academic startups; high-quality lab and administrative workspaces; facilitation and funding for partnerships between and among industry, startups, and academic institutions; assistance and funding for the relocation of technology-based companies to South Carolina; and coaching and funding for startups that may also receive investments from its affiliate, SC Launch Inc.
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