ivWatch

Our ability to assess the value of a promising early-stage company — especially those that have not been able to attract needed capital — is demonstrated fully by the work we completed on behalf of a very successful serial entrepreneur with multiple successful exits under his belt. By structuring a capital raise to fund an acquisition, we helped him launch an innovative company that is making IV therapies safer for patients around the world.

Challenge

Serial entrepreneur Gary Warren has an eye for a good idea. This former NASA engineer worked with John Paris and Williams Mullen in the sale of his successful internet security and enterprise software business to Symantec in 1998, where he stayed on as a high-level executive. Years later, when Gary learned of a technology that could monitor and detect IV infiltrations — leaks that allow medication or other therapies to go into surrounding tissue instead of veins — he saw a major global need, no competition in the space, and growth opportunity on a global scale. Peripheral intravenous (IV) catheter insertion is the most common invasive hospital procedure performed worldwide and is still associated with a variety of complications and an unacceptably high overall failure rate of 35% to 50% in even the best of hands.¹ Infiltrations can reduce drug efficacy and cause serious physical harm. Speeding the time to detection could improve patient outcomes worldwide, but the product was nowhere near ready; in fact, it didn’t even work.

Armed with a game-changing concept, but no funding to make the technology functional, Gary assembled an all-star team of scientists and engineers, all of whom charged ahead, setting up a command center in Gary’s basement. From there, they racked up hours and filled up chalkboards determining how to transform the technology from completely unusable to viable in a clinical setting where there is no margin for error. After five years of steadfast trial and error, the experienced team not only had a working prototype, but a vision for a family of smart sensors and patient monitors that would prove to transform patient care and safety.

Solution

Because of our successful track record helping early-stage growth companies organize their processes and then pursue successful capital raise offerings with venture capital firms and angel investors, Gary chose John Paris and the team at Williams Mullen to get the deal done. First, an agreement was formed with the creators to purchase and transfer ownership of the technology. Then, Gary and John were able to immediately gauge what was needed to make a deal happen with the high-net-worth investor community. They structured a deal that appealed to everyone involved and with Gary at the helm of the new company, ivWatch, he was able to immediately raise $2.5 million in funds from the NIH to bring the technology to market.

Achievements

Now, 13 years later, the company’s patient monitoring innovations are being used in three of the top 10 children’s hospitals in the U.S. and in over 10 countries around the globe, all while racking up 71 patents to date and over 30 clinical bodies of evidence, further solidifying the company’s position in the marketplace as the only FDA-cleared device to detect infiltration and extravasation events early.   

Finding Yes^® Moment

Harnessing our experience to gauge what was needed to secure funding to form ivWatch and bring its revolutionary technology to market.

At a Glance

• 71 patents to date
• Technology is in 10 countries around the globe
• Used by three of our top children’s hospitals in the U.S.

¹Helm, R. E., Klausner, J. D., Klemperer, J. D., Flint, L. M., Huang, E., “Accepted but Unacceptable: Peripheral IV Catheter Failure,” J. Infusion Nurses Society, Vol. 38, Issue 3, 189-203, May/June 2015.