Irit Yaniv
MD, General Partner
Irit Yaniv is an experienced and accomplished senior executive in the Medtech industry, and has held CEO positions with medical device companies Impulse Dynamics and MetaCure. She plays an important role in leading Accelmed’s early stage portfolio companies, serving either as Chairperson or as an active board member.
Dr. Yaniv holds an MD degree from the Ben-Gurion University and an MBA from the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University
Irit Yaniv
MD, General Partner
Irit Yaniv is an experienced and accomplished senior executive in the Medtech industry, and has held CEO positions with medical device companies Impulse Dynamics and MetaCure. She plays an important role in leading Accelmed’s early stage portfolio companies, serving either as Chairperson or as an active board member.
Dr. Yaniv holds an MD degree from the Ben-Gurion University and an MBA from the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University
BRINGING HEALTHTECH TO THE PUBLIC
Seeking for technologies that address unmet needs in large markets
Focusing on novel ideas and robust teams
Helping HealthTech companies to thrive
ABOUT US
Almeda Ventures is the first HealthTech focused public R&D partnership.
We invest on a global basis while focusing on:
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Medical devices
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Digital health
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Bio-convergence
We help our portfolio companies to thrive using our team’s deep expertise, diverse background and extensive network with investors, strategics and medical centers worldwide.
We seek for exceptional teams with innovative solutions addressing major unmet needs with a proven clinical concept and a proven business model.
Almeda Ventures drives medical device and digital health companies for success by utilizing its extensive network and proven track record.
TEAM
Dr. Irit Yaniv, MD, MBA
Founding Partner & CEO
Dr. Yaniv has more than 25 years of experience in the venture capital, pharmaceutical and biotech industries. As a senior manager, skilled physician, and experienced board member, she possesses a highly developed combination of leadership, decision making and business skills. Dr. Yaniv has served as partner at Accelmed since 2012. During this time she led Eximo from pre-clinical development through acquisition.
Dr. Irit Yaniv previously served as Executive Director and Chairperson of Accelmed's Innovation Hub portfolio companies. A global group of funds investing and acquiring control in HealthTech companies focused on Buyout and Non-Control transactions in commercial stage companies.
Dr. Yaniv holds an MD degree from the Ben-Gurion University and an MBA from the Recanati Business School at Tel Aviv University.
Efrat Hess
CFO
Efrat Hess brings a wide experience in hedge funds and in companies quoted in the stock market, coming out of different businesses.
Efrat is holding the position of a director of finance at Total Finance, a leading provider of outsourcing financial services.
Efrat is a certified public accountant graduated from the Bar Ilan University and an Executive MBA from Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
Amir Blatt
Founding Partner & CIO
Amir Blatt brings a wide experience in the HealthTech field. Prior to founding Almeda Ventures Amir was a partner at Accelmed, leading venture capital and private equity investments at HealthTech companies in Israel and in the US.
Amir graduated as a biotechnology engineer from the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa and holds an MBA from the Recanati School of Management at Tel Aviv University.
Limor Sandach
Venture Advisor
Senior Executive with over 20 years of experience in investment in healthcare innovation and management of startups in medtech.
Between 2014-2019 Limor served as the CEO of AV Medical Technologies. During her tenure, AV completed product development, achieved CE & FDA approvals, and started generating sales across the globe. Following a successful partnership, AV was acquired by Medtronic at the end of 2019.
In parallel, Limor was a Partner at Access Medical Ventures (AMV), investing and serving as a director in medical devices startups.
Prior to that, Limor served at management positions in healthcare VCs – 7Healthventures, Evergreen and XT – leading due diligence and portfolio development.
Limor brings comprehensive experience of the life cycle of healthcare startups, the ability to lead and implement strategy in various stages, and hands-on experience in supporting and mentoring management to meet its goals.
Limor holds BSc in Chemical engineering and ME in industrial Design from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
Tzahi Sultan
Founding Partner
Tzahi Sultan is one of the most prominent figures in the Israeli capital market.
Tzahi serves as Chairman of Discount Capital Underwriting following its merger in 2016 with Clal Finance Underwriting, the leading underwriting firm he founded more than 20 years ago, drawing on more than 25 years of underwriting experience. Under Tzahi’s leadership, Clal Finance Underwriting executed hundreds of public and private offerings, including some of the highest-profile IPOs and privatization processes in the Israeli capital market.
Tzahi is the owner and a director at Modiin Energy, a public oil and gas R&D partnership traded in the Tel Aviv stock exchange.
Prior to founding and leading Clal Finance Underwriting, Tzahi served in several senior roles, including as Managing Director at HSBC, Chief Executive Officer of Gmul Sahar Underwriters, and Head of the Underwriting Division at Poalim Capital Markets.
Tzahi holds a BA in Economics and an MBA, both are from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
ADVISORS
Dr. Ori Ben-Yehuda, MD
Clinical/Medical
Ori Ben-Yehuda, MD, is a cardiologist with over 25 years experience in patient care and clinical research. Since 2013 he has served as the Executive Director of the Clinical Trials Center (CTC) at the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) in New York where he leads a research team of 80 and directs clinical trials from first-in-human to large scale multicenter trials. He is also Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) where he is an active clinician.
Until 2011 he served as the Director of the Coronary Care Unit at UCSD Medical Center. He also served as the Deputy Editor of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology from 2002 through 2010. Dr. Ben-Yehuda is presently Editor-in-Chief of Coronary Artery Disease and Deputy Editor of Structural Heart: the Journal of the Heart Team, both peer reviewed journals. He is also the author and co-author of over 130 peer reviewed publications.
Dr. Ben-Yehuda received his medical degree magna cum laude from the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University He completed residencies in internal medicine at the Soroka Medical Center in Beer-Sheba, Israel and New York University Medical Center. He completed his cardiology training at the University of California, San Diego including a research fellowship in Atherosclerosis.
Dr. Joel Brill MD
Reimbursement / Coverage
Joel V. Brill, MD FACP is an executive clinician with over 30 years of experience providing strategic leadership and medical oversight to large data-driven health organizations. He is skilled in strategy, development and implementation of innovative health programs, products and payment systems, with extensive experience in clinical practice, research, coverage, reimbursement, quality improvement, data analysis, bundled and episode payments and accountable care.
Dr. Brill is Board Certified in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology and works extensively with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the American Medical Association (AMA) on coding, coverage and reimbursement issues, and co-Chaired the Part D medication measures Technical Expert Panel for CMS. He participates in the CPT Editorial Panel and the AMA RBRVS Update Committee (RUC), and has introduced over 220 CPT and HCPCS coding proposals.
He has published extensively on episode and bundled payment methodologies, and has developed and submitted advanced payment models to the HHS Physician Focused Payment Model Technical Advisory Committee for consideration under MACRA.
Dr. Michal Fisher
IP
Dr. Michal Fisher is a licensed patent attorney since 2004, Israel Patent and Trademark Office. She is also Adjunct Faculty, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel – Graduate course in Patent Law and Practice.
Dr. Fisher specializes in the strategic management of intellectual property portfolios, patent and trademark drafting and prosecution, infringement analysis, patentability analysis, validity and freedom to operate opinions, also patent oppositions, portfolio evaluations, clearance opinions, client pre-investment due diligence, and litigation support.
Dr. Fisher holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry (Cum Laude) from Tel Aviv University and an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Physical and Analytical Chemistry from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.
Dr. Susan Alpert, PhD, MD
Regulatory
Susan Alpert, Ph.D., M.D. specializes on the strategies needed to place medical devices and other medical products into the global market.
She was a Corporate Senior Vice President for Global Regulatory at Medtronic, Inc. and prior to that VP Regulatory Science at C.R. Bard, Inc. She worked at the US FDA from 1987-2000 where she held a variety of management positions in the Centers for drugs, devices and radiological health, and foods.
She was Director of the Office of Device Evaluation from 1993-1999. Susan chaired the RAPS board was on the boards of FDLI, WBL and SWHR.
PORTFOLIO
Augmedics
Augmedics is developing xvision, an augmented reality system that allows surgeons to fully focus on what they see inside a patient’s anatomy without having to look away at a monitor. The system makes vital, real-time information available to the surgeon in an intuitive manner with no external distractions
FlexDex
FlexDex Surgical is an innovative medical device company based in Michigan, with a passion for bringing cutting edge technology from an idea into reality.
FlexDex mission is to provide surgeons with the functionality of robots at the cost of traditional hand-held surgical instruments, bringing the benefits of minimally invasive surgery to more patients around the world.
Belong
Belong offers a personalized, patient-focused, proactive cancer-care management navigator for patients, families, and doctors. The Belong app is designed to help cancer patients manage and improve the treatment process, from diagnosis to recovery, with support from medical professionals, healthcare providers, big data, and their own electronic medical files.
BioProtect
BioProtect developed a proprietary technology platform for biodegradable balloons. The technology suits a wide range of clinical applications.
The company’s first application the ProSpace Balloon System acting as a spacer for the protection of healthy tissue in patients receiving radiotherapy for prostate cancer.
Novapulse
NovaPulse is a Bioconvergence company focusing on peripheral arterial disease (PAD). It is developing a solution to help millions who suffer from pain and difficulty walking due to abnormal blood supply to their legs.
