Navi passed a major milestone last week when the clinical prototype of the Neonav ECG Tip Location System was used on patients for the first time.
Navi Awarded Victorian Medical Research Accelerating Fund Grant
We’re very happy to announce that Navi Medical Technologies, in partnership with the The Royal Women's Hospital, has been successful in the latest round of grants from the Victorian Medical Research Accelerating Fund.
Navi COO Shing Yue Sheung interview with international online magazine Hive Life
Navi secures $400,000 Accelerating Commercialisation grant
Navi is excited to announce that we have been successful in receiving almost $400,000 funding from the Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science through the Accelerating Commercialisation grant as part of the Entrepreneurs’ Programme. We are proud to be named in Minister Karen Andrew’s media release as an “innovative medtech solution that helps doctors administer medicine to critically ill newborns”, and one of nine businesses that secured this highly competitive grant. See Minister Karen Andrew’s media release for why Navi’s innovation is an important innovation.
This grant will enable us to complete our next phase of product development and testing, which includes a clinical study at The Royal Women’s Hospital in Melbourne where we’ll be using our medical device in newborn patients for the first time. We are pleased to have a longstanding partnership with The Royal Women’s Hospital. See news article from the Royal Women’s Hospital.
With this grant, Navi has secured a total of $1.7 million, following our recent $1.15 million capital raise and $150,000 prize money. This represents important validation of Navi’s focus on pediatrics and neonatal patients. Our CEO and co-founder, Alex Newton, explains the importance of this achievement in this Smart Company article.
Q&A with Mubin Yousuf, Navi's CTO
Over 15 million babies are born premature globally each year, with many of them being born in developing nations. As a result, there are a large number of critically-ill newborns that have limited access to medical innovations compared to that of developed countries like Australia and the United States.
This lack of accessibility is at the heart of what drives the team at Navi, and this is particularly true for Navi Chief Technical Officer Mubin Yousuf; who is originally from Pakistan and has a unique and personal drive in helping newborns that need it most.
Mubin has recently returned from a trip to Pakistan, where he spent time speaking with doctors and hospitals in Karachi to better understand the problems developing nations like Pakistan face in intensive neonatal and paediatric care, and how companies like Navi can develop products to help give children brighter, happier futures.
Q: Who are you and what do you do?
MY: My name is Mubin and I have a master’s degree in biomedical engineering. I am currently a cofounder and Chief Technology Officer at Navi Medical Technologies; I am also working part-time as a research engineer at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute’s Cardiovascular Bioengineering Team.
Q: What is the current state of the health care system in Pakistan?
MY: Healthcare in Pakistan is divided into two big sectors, the government/public sector and the private sector. Each have their own inpatient and outpatient departments. The public sector receives funding from the government and offers patient care either as free or at very low cost whereas the private sector is relatively high in terms of cost to the patients. The public hospitals is do their best but the lack of is sufficient infrastructure to cater for Pakistan's growing population poses a real challenge.
Q: What are the current needs and problems facing paediatric and neonatal medicine in Pakistan?
MY: My experience visiting NICU’s [neonatal intensive care units] in Pakistan was very enlightening, especially in the public sector. I visited one of the largest public NICUs of Pakistan, and what was most surprising was that there was a 22 day waiting line for patients to get a standard Xray - a sobering reflection of how understaffed and over populated with patients some hospitals in Pakistan can be.
Q: As an engineer, what most excites you about developing the neoNAV?
MY: It would have to be utilising cutting-edge AI [artificial intelligence] in collaboration with neonatologists and electrophysiologists to develop a medical device that makes a big difference to premature babies. A dream come true!
Navi to present at MAP Entrepreneur Gala
Navi was honoured to be invited as a guest presenter at the Melbourne Accelerator Program (MAP) showcase event, the Melbourne Entrepreneur Gala, in August 2018.
The black-tie gala, which was attended by the “who’s who” of the entrepreneurship scene in Australia, is an event that focused on celebrating and connecting entrepreneurs with industry leaders across a number of different sectors.
Navi co-founder Wei Sue represented Navi at the event, and presented Navi’s work on the Neonav, which aims to improve catheter placement procedures in critically-ill newborns to achieve better patient outcomes.
Team Navi celebrating at the Melbourne Entrepreneurship Gala with University of Melbourne VC Glyn Davies. Pictured from left to right: Alex Newton, Brad Bergmann, Wei Sue, Mubin Yousuf, Shing Sheung, Glyn Davis, Prof. David Grayden
Navi Wins First Prize at Start-Up Vic Pitch Night
Wei Sue (CFO) representing Navi’s win at Start Up Vic’s Pitch Night.
Navi proudly announces Co-Founder Wei Sue’s first prize win at Start Up Vic's Pitch Night on 29th August 2017.
During the final round of the event, the top four finalists were selected to pitch their health technology startups to a panel of judges and a large crowd, held at the PwC building in Melbourne.
Navi won $150,000 worth of prizes and a wild card entry into MedTech’s Got Talent - Australia's largest start-up competition.
Aside from being the judges’ favourite, Navi also won the people’s choice award during the event. As a result, Navi will be featured in Start Up VIC's upcoming newsletter.
Navi COO Named in Forbes "30 Under 30"
Navi announces that our COO and Co-founder, Shing Sheung, has been named in the Forbes "30 Under 30" list for Healthcare & Science in the Asia/Pacific Region.
The nomination followed after Shing spent several months in the Texas Medical center in Houston - where he was a participant in the TMCx Innovation program. During his time in Houston, Shing engaged with clinical and industry leaders to further the develop the Neonav - Navi’s medical device which primarily aims to significantly improve catheter positioning and placement in neonates by providing clinicians with real-time feedback on catheter tip localisation. Navi ultimately hopes that the Neonav will help set a much-needed, new standard in neonatal care.
Shing Sheung, honoured by the acknowledgment, shared a few words regarding his relentless dedication to the development of the Neonav: "It's a real honour to be named alongside so many other inspiring individuals. Thank you to Forbes who recognises our work at Navi. As a team, we're absolutely determined to create medical innovations to help children everywhere live brighter, healthier futures."
Navi Honoured With Leadership Award From Melbourne Business School
The Melbourne Business School, in partnership with the University of Melbourne, has awarded the Navi team the "2018 Alumni Leadership Award" at the Leadership Dinner event in Melbourne, Australia.
The Melbourne Business School Dean, Professor Ian Harper, honoured Navi at the event in light of its work in developing the Neonav - a catheter tip confirmation device that will assist healthcare professionals to reduce the high misplacement rates of central line catheters in neonates. "The School would like to recognise [Navi] for the inspirational success of your pioneering endeavour in paediatric medical technology with the presentation of the Alumni award..."
Navi CEO Alex Newton accepting the Leadership Award at the MBS Leadership Dinner 2018
Navi CEO Alex Newton graciously accepted the award on behalf of team Navi. He stated his thanks for the support and guidance the university continues to offer in Navis pursuit of improving the standard of neonatal care. "It takes a lot of work to transform an idea factory into a revenue-generating business - and I am thankful for the continued support of the alumni and faculty of the Melbourne Business School."
Navi was formed out of the 2016 Biodesign and Innovation course - a joint venture between the Melbourne Business School and University of Melbourne. The course was designed to bring together biomedical engineers, MBAs, and clinicians to help identify and solve an existing and current medical need. “It’s great to see things come full-circle in this way - and have our efforts acknowledged by mentors who helped us initiate the start of Navi. We’re very excited to see the trajectory Navi will continue to be heading on next.”
Navi CEO Presents at SXSW
Navi CEO Alex Newton was recently invited to pitch the Neonav to the Pediatric Impact Health challenge at the 2018 South by South West (SXSW) festival in Austin, Texas.
The event is sponsored and attended by representatives from the top 8 children's hospital in the US. Its main purpose is to provide an opportunity to bring together the most promising paediatric-focused start-ups from around the world to present their ideas and network with key leaders in the pediatric healthcare field.
"The opportunity to meet representatives from leading US children's hospitals and engage in extensive discussions on the challenges they face, as well as the benefits that we can offer them via the Neonav was incredible,” Alex noted.
Following the Impact Pediatric Health event, Navi was invited to present at an AusTrade-organized event at Australia House - a space focusing on showcasing new technologies being developed in Australia. “These kinds of events present such amazing opportunities for us,” Alex says. “As an Australian-based company with our sights set on the US market, any chance we get to interact and build our network in this key market is absolutely invaluable.”