An under-the-radar company that’s developing next-generation magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) coils is moving closer to commercialization.
Cleveland-based Tursiop Technologies doesn’t have a website and hasn’t released any public statements since 2008, when it received a $1.35 million investment.
Still, the company is making progress on its MRI coils made of “carbon-based nanomaterials” and hopes to have at least one type of the new coils on the market in the next 12 to 18 months, Chief Technology Officer Raju Viswanathan said. Keeping with the company’s low-profile nature, Viswanathan was short on specifics in a brief phone interview.
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To date, none of the company’s coils are on the market. Tursiop is developing “several” different types of coils that are tailored for scans of various body parts, Viswanathan said.
The company’s coils offer clearer, sharper images than competing coils on the market, said Viswanathan, who helped develop the company’s technology. “Our patent-pending technology is based on a fundamental change in the way the coils are designed and manufactured,” the company’s CEO said in the 2008 funding announcement.
Big imaging companies such as Philips Healthcare, GE Healthcare, Toshiba and Siemens represent obvious customer targets for Tursiop. Without specifying names, Viswanathan said Tursiop is “in the process of engaging with various vendors.”
Those same companies also represent potential strategic acquirers of Tursiop, though like nearly all executives, Viswanathan prefers to focus on his own company’s operations. “It’s certainly possible that one of the bigger companies might want to acquire us,” he acknowledged.
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Tursiop’s 2008 investment was led by Cleveland nonprofit venture development group JumpStart and RMS Management, which is connected to the families behind real estate development company Forest City Enterprises.
