Malpani Ventures invests in Nesa Medtech

Why we invested in Nesa Medtech

We are pleased to announce our investment in Nesa Medtech, a healthcare technology company focused on transforming women’s health through micro-invasive treatment for uterine fibroids. Malpani Ventures led the seed round in Nesa with existing investor CCAMP also participating.

Health-tech is a core area of focus for us at Malpani Ventures and we strongly believe in the need for core innovation toward developing value-based healthcare in the country. We are proud to partner with Sreekar Kothamachu and his team on their mission for developing a low-cost, minimally-invasive treatment for uterine fibroids in India and globally.

The Need: Uterine Fibroids – A global healthcare challenge:

Uterine Fibroids are non-cancerous growths from smooth muscle tissue that originate from the muscle layer of the uterus also commonly known as myoma or leiomyomas.

1 in 4 women in the reproductive age group have fibroids and about 30% of affected women are likely to have one or more of the following symptoms: abnormal uterine bleeding, severe acute abdomen pain, infertility and abdominal lump. Thus, an estimated ~120 to 140 Mn women around the world suffer from healthcare challenges due to uterine fibroids.

The following stats astounded us as we researched more on the space:

• Uterine Fibroid surgeries are the most common elective surgery in women
• While there are no statistics on hysterectomy surgeries available for India, there are at least 400K+ recorded hysterectomy and other surgical procedures every year in the US alone. It is estimated that annually there are 1.2 Mn+ patients seeking treatment in India.

Existing solutions:

As we understand, most patients are initially recommended medical therapy which includes symptomatic treatment such as oral contraceptive pills, and progesterone-only pills, amongst others; while some are recommended size-reduction treatments for the fibroids. However, a limited number of women benefit from such medication and eventually most undergo surgical solutions.

Present treatment offered by gynaecologists is surgical options including hysterectomy and myomectomy. However, these surgeries are invasive and involve potentially detrimental effects of surgical treatment – including cutting & suturing, leave for 5-7 days, and application of general anaesthesia.

 Nesa’s solution – Gyide:

Nesa has developed Gyide – a real-time ultrasound-guided navigation platform technology to map fibroids and guide treatment. GYIDE is a scar-less safe, effective and uterus-preserving technology to treat symptomatic uterine fibroids. The planning workstation integrates with the ultrasound machines (commonly available at gynaecologists’ clinics – thereby reducing Capex costs) to help identify the exact location of fibroids in the uterus. Gyide also includes a navigation arm that couples with an energy needle to deliver thermal energy to ablate fibroids with the workstation guiding the gynaec in real-time. The entire tech stack for Gyide is completely developed indigenously in-house.

Nesa hopes to offer several superlative outcomes versus the existing procedures:

The Team on the Mission:

Nesa is led by Sreekar Kothamachu, CEO who has 12 years of experience working in R&D/ new product development teams at Siemens & Philip Healthcare. Sreekar started out as a software specialist in 2006 at Siemens before moving to Philips Healthcare in 2009 where he worked for ~6 years. At Philips, Sreekar had global experience working with the Israel team developing next generation CT Scanners.

Sreekar is ably supported by Suraj Rajan, the CTO of the company. Suraj has 17+ years of experience largely in New Product Development specifically in Medical devices. Suraj was part of the global design team at Johnson & Johnson involved in the design and development of orthopaedic implants and instruments, while he was part of the team to design and develop new safety products at 3M.

Dr Usha B R, Chief Medical Officer of Nesa, lends her expertise to the team having performed minimally invasive surgeries for the last 10+ years.

Nesa also works with a host of renowned consultants including surgeons, technology and compliance experts as they seek to commercialize their offering.