Mendaera is a Silicon Valley healthcare technology company building Focalist, a fist-sized handheld robotic system that pairs real-time ultrasound imaging with robotic needle guidance and AI to make precise, needle-based procedures more accessible across specialties. Founded in 2020 by Josh DeFonzo and Jason Wilson, both alumni of Auris Health, and backed by Intuitive Surgical and Auris co-founder Dr. Fred Moll, the company aims to move robotics beyond the operating room and into the everyday procedures that make up the bulk of medicine.
Darryl Barnes is a physician-turned-inventor who co-founded Sonex Health, an Eagan, Minnesota medtech company building ultrasound-guided devices that move carpal tunnel and trigger finger surgery out of the operating room and into the clinic office. A former Mayo Clinic sports medicine doctor, he co-invented the UltraGuideCTR device, holds numerous medical device patents, and helped raise more than $60 million to scale the company. He has served as both CEO and chief technology officer, and was named Medical Devices CEO of the Year for the Upper Midwest in 2018.