FDA-cleared, wireless, wearable monitors that never stop watching - streaming oxygen, pulse and temperature from the crib to the hospital ward.
For decades, a pulse oximeter meant a plastic clip on a fingertip for ten seconds, a number read off a screen, then nothing until the next check. Aulisa Medical USA was built around a different premise: that the ten seconds should become permanent. Its Guardian Angel® line is a family of FDA-cleared, wireless, wearable devices that continuously monitor a patient's oxygen saturation, pulse rate and body temperature and stream that data - to a bedside display, a central nursing station, or a caregiver's phone at home.
Founded in 2012 in Palo Alto by serial medical-device entrepreneur Augustine "Augie" Lien, the company frames its work plainly: continuous monitoring exists to catch trouble early. An oxygen level that dips at 3 a.m. is only useful information if someone is told. Aulisa's alarms, with caregiver-customizable limits, are designed to raise that flag the moment a vital sign drifts out of a safe range.
The range is what sets the product apart. The same platform is cleared for premature infants and for adults, for local monitoring in a single room and for cloud-based remote monitoring across a city. That breadth - infant to adult, home to hospital, on one system - is the company's central bet in an increasingly crowded monitoring market.
It is not a large company. The U.S. entity runs lean, around seven people, paired with a manufacturing and engineering base in Taipei. But it has done something many better-funded startups have not: earned six FDA 510(k) clearances, filed ten patents, and built its own GMP-certified factory before raising its first institutional round.
Traditional vital-sign checks are snapshots. A nurse takes a reading, records it, and moves on; hours may pass before the next one. For a fragile infant, a recovering surgical patient, or someone with a chronic condition, the dangerous moment often falls in the gap between checks.
Aulisa's answer is to close the gap. Guardian Angel devices are worn continuously and report without interruption, so a deterioration is detected as it happens rather than at the next scheduled round. The data lives in the cloud, which means a clinician - or a parent - does not have to be in the same room to know how a patient is doing.
Wireless wearable pulse oximeter measuring SpO2, pulse rate and body temperature for local monitoring of adults and children.
Wireless system for continuous local monitoring of infants, sized for the smallest patients.
Cloud-based remote monitoring for adults and children with integrated audio and video.
Cloud-based remote infant monitoring with audio and video for at-home and clinical use.
A lighter, lower-cost continuous SpO2, pulse and temperature line built to widen access to home monitoring.
Centralized Multiple Patient Monitoring - watches many patients at once from a central nursing station, with alarm recording and custom limits.
Night-vision-capable camera pairing real-time vitals with audio and video for advanced bedside and remote monitoring.
Expanded monitoring capability tracking up to seven vital signs with caregiver-configurable alarm thresholds.
Aulisa is not Augustine Lien's first medical-device company - it is his sixth. His earlier ventures read like a map of the industry's acquisition history: Nellcor (acquired by Medtronic), Menlo Care (merged into Johnson & Johnson), Gynecare (acquired by J&J/Ethicon), EPI (acquired by Boston Scientific) and Cardiva Medical (acquired by Haemonetics in 2021).
He founded Aulisa in Palo Alto in 2012, established Taiwan Aulisa Medical Device Technologies in Taipei in 2013 as the enterprise headquarters, and incorporated the U.S. subsidiary in September 2018. Lien holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a master's degree from Stanford.
That track record shapes how the company operates. Rather than outsource, Aulisa designs, patents and manufactures its devices in-house at a GMP-certified factory - a deliberate choice for a product whose worst-case failure is a missed alarm on a sleeping patient. The order of operations mattered too: clearances first, capital second.
In 2022 the company brought in Kenneth Abriola, a 30-year medical-device sales veteran from companies including Dräger and Spacelabs, as VP of Sales and Marketing - a signal that Aulisa was shifting from building the product to selling it at scale.
Remote and continuous patient monitoring is moving from a niche capability to a core pillar of care, pushed by aging populations, hospital staffing shortages and the shift toward data-driven medicine. Aulisa competes with names like Masimo, whose Stork monitor tracks infant vitals, and Owlet, known for its consumer Dream Sock.
Aulisa's differentiator is span. Where rivals often anchor to one segment - consumer infant monitoring, or hospital sensors - Aulisa runs a single FDA-cleared, medical-grade platform across every age group and both settings, with alarm recording and customizable limits built in.
FIG. 2 — Platform coverage across the dimensions where continuous-monitoring products typically specialize.
Aulisa runs a hybrid model. On the B2B side, hospitals, clinics and care facilities buy the CMPM and Guardian Angel systems for clinical monitoring. On the B2C/D2C side, families buy home devices directly through the company's e-commerce store and Amazon.
Revenue comes from device sales, sensor and consumable attachments, and - more recently - leasing. In late 2024 the company introduced leasing options that lower the up-front cost of adopting its systems, an attempt to remove the price barrier for both clinics and households.
"Not a spot-check. A continuous watch - from the crib to the ward, on one platform."
Serial entrepreneur Augie Lien founds the company to build smart, continuous patient monitoring.
Taiwan Aulisa Medical Device Technologies is set up in Taipei as enterprise HQ and manufacturing base.
Guardian Angel GA1000 receives FDA 510(k) clearance (K162580) for local adult/pediatric monitoring.
Aulisa Medical USA is incorporated; GA1001 and GA2000 expand into infant and cloud monitoring.
GA2001 clears for cloud-based infant monitoring with audio and video.
Named a Top CardioVascular Device Company by Medical Tech Outlook; CMPM extends monitoring to whole wards.
Company closes its Series A and appoints Kenneth Abriola as VP of Sales and Marketing.
A lighter, lower-cost line broadens access for infants and adults.
Aulisa introduces the Monitor Camera and new leasing options to widen adoption.
Guardian Angel - a line of FDA-cleared, wireless, wearable devices that continuously monitor vital signs such as oxygen saturation, pulse rate and body temperature for infants, children and adults, in hospitals and at home.
Yes. Aulisa has received six FDA 510(k) clearances across its Guardian Angel product lines, including GA1000, GA1001, GA2000 and GA2001.
It was founded in 2012 in Palo Alto by Augustine "Augie" Lien, a serial medical-device entrepreneur whose prior companies include Nellcor and Cardiva Medical.
Aulisa raised a $13 million Series A round that closed in January 2022.
Yes. Guardian Angel is designed for both clinical and home use, streaming cloud-based vitals to caregivers with customizable alarms. The company also offers leasing options to lower the cost of adoption.
Contact: augustine.lien@aulisa.com · +1 833-828-5472 · 999 Commercial Street, Palo Alto, CA 94303