stanford-biodesign
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Selera Medical
Selera Medical is a Y Combinator-backed (W24) medical device startup building MILO - minimally invasive lymphatic offloading - a one-time, catheter-based procedure that treats fluid overload in chronic heart failure. Instead of a lifelong drug regimen, Selera taps the body's lymphatic system to drain trapped fluid from the interstitial space, aiming to break the cycle of repeat hospitalizations that defines late-stage heart failure. Founded in 2023 by CEO Stacie Arechavala and CTO Kevin Bui, both former Stanford Biodesign fellows.
InterVene, Inc.
InterVene, Inc. is a Redwood City, California vascular medical device company building catheter-based tools for severe venous disease. Born out of Stanford Biodesign, it first pioneered BlueLeaf, a non-implantable system that forms new vein valves from a patient's own tissue, then pivoted its lead product to Recana, an FDA-cleared thrombectomy catheter system that clears venous in-stent restenosis and native-vessel obstructions - a stubborn problem that leaves stented patients with debilitating complications and few good options.
Vynca
Vynca is a healthcare company focused on serious illness and end-of-life care. Founded in 2013 out of Stanford Biodesign, it began as advance care planning software that put patients' end-of-life wishes into the electronic health record, then expanded into hands-on clinical services. Today it combines home-based and virtual palliative care, care navigation, and enhanced care management with technology, partnering with health plans and providers to keep seriously ill patients comfortable, out of the hospital, and cared for on their own terms.
Zenflow, Inc.
Zenflow is a South San Francisco medical device company that built the Spring, a small nitinol coil implanted through a flexible cystoscope to prop open the urethra and relieve the symptoms of an enlarged prostate (benign prostatic hyperplasia). Spun out of Stanford's Biodesign program in 2014, the company won FDA approval in December 2025 for a first-line interventional therapy that requires no catheter afterward, preserves sexual function, and can be reversed. It has raised roughly $85 million across multiple rounds and ran the multinational BREEZE pivotal trial to get there.