—Powerful Medical wins $200,000 Grand Prize, recognizing its AI electrocardiogram (ECG) diagnostics and care-coordination platform with two times the sensitivity on heart attacks compared to the current standard of care—

—Wavelet named the Value Award Winner—

MedTech Innovator (MTI), the world’s largest accelerator of medical technology companies, today announced that Powerful Medical won the 2025 Mid-Stage Grand Prize competition, and Wavelet won the 2025 Value Award during the MedTech Strategist Innovation Summit in San Diego. Powerful Medical received a $200,000 award as the Mid-Stage Grand Prize winner, and Wavelet received a $25,000 award as the Value Award winner. During each competition, finalists pitched their technology and answered questions from a panel of industry experts. After the presentations, an audience of industry experts voted in real time to select the winner.

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Powerful Medical received the $200,000 Grand Prize in the Mid-Stage competition.

“Winning MedTech Innovator’s 2025 Mid-Stage Grand Finals competition is an extraordinary achievement,” said Martin Herman, co-founder and CEO of Powerful Medical. “This recognition validates our mission to transform acute cardiac care. With PMcardio and the Queen of Hearts AI, clinicians can diagnose life-threatening heart attacks with twice the sensitivity of the current standard of care, and do so at first medical contact, when every minute determines how much of the heart can still be saved.”

“I’m thrilled to see Powerful Medical win our Mid-Stage Grand Prize Competition, demonstrating the all-around value, momentum, and execution that our judges considered in selecting the Mid-Stage finalists,” said Paul Grand, CEO of MedTech Innovator. “The company’s AI-enabled care platform is delivering on the promise of AI to significantly improve patient outcomes while lowering the cost of care, and we’ve been excited to help their innovation scale in impact as it enters the U.S. market.”

MTI’s Mid-Stage Competition was established to allow the more mature medtech companies in the accelerator cohort to compete for recognition and cash awards. Besides Powerful Medical, this year’s mid-stage competition finalists, selected from among 19 mid-stage companies in the cohort by a vote of MTI’s selection committee, were BRIJ Medical (Marietta, Ga.), MedCu Technologies (Herzliya, Israel), and Multiphze (Glendale, Calif.). Each finalist received a prize of $25,000.

MTI’s Value Award Competition is the culmination of MTI’s comprehensive Value Program, recognizing the development of outstanding value propositions in each finalist company’s respective clinical areas. All participants in the MedTech Innovator accelerator had the opportunity to refine their value propositions over several months with input from MTI’s 37 value coaches. The value coaches nominated 28 companies for the finals, from which 13 were shortlisted for consideration, and after a vote by MTI’s selection committee, inSoma Bio (Durham, N.C.), STENTiT (Eindhoven, Netherlands), Wavelet (New Haven, Conn.), VQ Biomedical (Apex, N.C.), and Winter Innovations (Knoxville, Tenn.) were named the finalists, with Wavelet crowned the winner after the live audience vote.

“Winning the MedTech Innovator 2025 Value Award, and taking the top spot in their competition again, is a powerful validation of Wavelet’s momentum,” said Liz Golden, co-founder and CEO, Wavelet. “This program has fueled our rapid growth and our mission to improve outcomes for mothers and babies globally.”

“Congratulations to Wavelet for winning our Value Award competition, an incredible achievement among a field of outstanding finalists in a variety of high-value clinical areas,” said Grand. “We are excited for this continued validation by the many experts and strategists in the industry, who voted Wavelet the winner in two of our competitions, that innovations in maternal and fetal health offer an extremely compelling value proposition.”

Two distinguished panels of judges engaged in Q&A sessions with the finalists before the audience cast their votes. The Mid-Stage Grand Prize finalists were questioned by Yorick Schut, Director of Business Development at Johnson & Johnson MedTech, Mirren Mandalia, Vice President Corporate Development and Venture at LivaNova, and Virginia Giddings, Vice President of Exploration at Edwards Lifesciences. The Value Award expert judge panelists were Bill Perry, Lead Advisor at American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Lynn Carney, Director, Agency and Alliances at Medmarc, and Jason Halac, Managing Director at Dexcom Ventures CVC.

These two competitions conclude the MTI accelerator for 2025, which included 64 cohort companies. Featuring best-in-class emerging medical device, diagnostic, and digital health companies from around the globe, the cohort received unparalleled visibility and access to leading medtech manufacturers, providers, investors, and other industry stakeholders. Applications are open for MTI’s 2026 cohort. Startups developing transformative medical technologies are encouraged to apply at medtechinnovator.org/apply.

About MedTech Innovator

MedTech Innovator is the world’s largest accelerator of medical device, digital health, and diagnostic companies. Its mission is to improve human health by accelerating the growth of companies transforming patient care. MTI has been a catalyst for groundbreaking healthcare solutions, sourcing nearly 14,000 applicants and fostering the growth of over 700 graduates. Alumni have collectively raised $10 billion in follow-on funding and introduced 400+ products to the market, improving the health of millions worldwide. For more information about MedTech Innovator, its annual programs, portfolio of industry-leading startups, and insights on trends, visit MTI’s website, follow MTI on LinkedIn, and subscribe to its monthly newsletter.

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