Sisu Global Health

Summary: Sisu Global Health is the medical device company for emerging markets. Medical device companies and NGOs fail to successfully scale products in the $91 billion medical device market in emerging economies because 80% of medical technologies are designed for 10% of the world’s population. Sisu bridges this gap with a medical device platform specifically for emerging markets, starting in Africa. Sisu is an IP-driven company for patented, clinically proven, high margin medical technologies. Sisu owns 5 portfolio technologies. The first to market is Hemafuse, a surgical tool to recycle a person’s own blood from internal bleeding, that can be used as an alternative to donor blood. With a simple push and pull of a handle, Hemafuse can transfer blood from where it is pooled internally to a blood bag, where it can be immediately re-transfused. Hemafuse is patented, has regulatory approval in Ghana and Kenya, and has just begun sales in Kenya.

Need: Hospitals in emerging markets cannot access the equipment that they need, because 80% of medical technologies are designed for 10% of the world’s population. Medical device companies and NGOs fail to successfully scale products in the $91 billion medical device market in emerging economies. In 2014 the medical device market in Africa was $3.9B, but Frost and Sullivan predicts in will reach $16B in 2020. There is a growing middle class that is underserved for proper healthcare, facing issues like a 50% shortage of donor blood in Africa. If we could recycle a patient’s own blood in surgery, we could close this gap. Your own blood is better than someone else’s and recycling blood would also address concerns of disease burden and infrastructure. These same opportunities also exist in military, veterinary, and disaster relief applications.

Value: Sisu Global Health is the medical device company for emerging markets with a portfolio of clinically proven, patented, high margin technologies. Sisu is changing the way that medical devices are commercialized for emerging markets by proving commercial success and high return with products designed specifically for emerging markets.

Sisu has core expertise around the two areas that most medical devices in emerging markets fail: appropriate design and achieving market validation. They have proven to be a capital efficient team with a proven ability to execute and a robust network of advocates in partners across Sub-Saharan Africa. They have strong funding partners and have raised over $3M to-date ($900k non-dilutive) from investors like  Camden Partners, Rise of the Rest Seed Fund (led by Steve Case), and Belle Michigan and grantors like USAID and the Gates Foundation. Sisu has a portfolio of 5 devices, including Hemafuse: a surgical device that can salvage and recycle a patient’s own blood from internal bleeding.