Setting the stage for success SIA leverages INVO’s expertise in intellectual property, strategic partnership, and fundraising to score a $140 million exit.
Mlodinow and his SIA colleagues leaned on INVO’s expertise to inform its negotiations and fundraising, which included an introduction to investors.”
Blending humility and careful reflection, Alexei Mlodinow begins retracing his journey with Surgical Innovation Associates, better known as SIA.
Back in 2016, Mlodinow, then enrolled in Northwestern University’s joint MD-MBA program, co-founded SIA alongside his Kellogg MBA pal Todd Cruikshank and his clinical mentor at the Feinberg School of Medicine, plastic surgeon Dr. John Kim.
Years earlier, Kim had invented an absorbable mesh product designed to help mastectomy patients with implant-based breast reconstruction. Kim’s solution represented a compelling alternative to the prevailing surgical treatment: an internal bra constructed of another individual’s biological tissue. While providing the same technical and mechanical benefits to the procedure, Kim’s invention shed costs and avoided the inflammation and infection concerns dogging the human tissue products. With INVO’s guidance, Kim received a patent on his prosthetic breast support technology in 2014.
In Kim’s novel innovation, Mlodinow saw an opportunity to apply his entrepreneurial instincts to a dynamic product category, help breast cancer patients, and create value. He teamed with Kim and Cruikshank to launch SIA and push the technology to market after licensing the patent from INVO.
Thereafter, Mlodinow and his SIA colleagues leaned on INVO’s expertise to inform its negotiations and fundraising, which included an introduction to investors who would contribute approximately $1 million to SIA over two different funding rounds. The capital, combined with SIA’s enterprising energy, propelled the company’s 2020 commercial launch of DuraSorb, its absorbable monofilament mesh for plastic and reconstructive surgery. DuraSorb’s debut sparked a three-year wave of 80-100 percent annual revenue growth and generated substantial marketplace attention.
In December 2022, Integra LifeSciences acquired SIA for $140 million in total deal value. The New Jersey-based company is now facilitating the continued adoption of DuraSorb in the U.S. while broadening the technology’s availability around the world.
“Along this entire lesson-filled journey, I always felt supported by INVO – both personally and professionally. INVO is the entrepreneur’s friend: an ally who brings expertise to the table regarding intellectual property, fundraising, and strategic partnership.”
--Alexei Mlodinow
Co-founder, CEO, Board Director
Surgical Innovation Associates (SIA, now part of Integra LifeSciences)