EndoSound

About the offering

EndoSound, Inc. is a Portland, OR-based medical technology company developing and commercializing an endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) system designed to expand access to ultrasound-enhanced endoscopy in gastrointestinal care. The company has received FDA Breakthrough Device designation and FDA clearance for its first-generation EndoSound Vision System (EVS), which adds ultrasound capability to standard gastroscopes that many endoscopy facilities already own — eliminating the need for dedicated echoendoscopes that can cost $450,000 or more. EndoSound's system is priced at approximately $50,000 per unit, with a recurring per-procedure fee of approximately $650, generating reported gross margins of approximately 95% on the recurring revenue stream. The core clinical problem EndoSound addresses is access: approximately 80% of hospitals and 97% of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) do not currently offer EUS, primarily due to the capital cost, infrastructure requirements, and specialized training associated with traditional systems. When a finding requiring ultrasound evaluation is made during a routine endoscopy at one of these sites, patients are typically referred elsewhere, often resulting in scheduling delays of approximately 10 weeks. EndoSound's system is designed to allow the procedure — which it terms Echo-EGD — to be completed at the point of initial endoscopy, potentially compressing the diagnostic timeline to approximately 2 weeks and generating estimated savings of approximately $4,600 in insurance costs and $1,100 in patient out-of-pocket costs per episode of care. The company also cites internal data suggesting Echo-EGD may identify pancreatic disease in approximately 40% of patients presenting with dyspepsia and may change clinical management in approximately 25% of cases versus standard upper GI endoscopy alone. As of the campaign, the company reports over 600 procedures completed across 17 active clinical sites, with 95%+ clinical acceptance rates. Roughly 50 additional facilities are reportedly in various stages of engagement regarding the next-generation system. The company has raised over $12M to date from investors including GeoMedTech and the AGA GI Fund, and executed a $5M non-dilutive licensing and royalty agreement with a strategic partner for commercialization rights in China. It holds 10 awarded patents and 10 pending patents, and received the ASGE and AGA GI Innovation of the Year award in 2022. The leadership team includes CEO Scott Aldrich Jr. (20+ years in GI devices, formerly of MotusGI, Mauna Kea, and Pentax Medical), CMO and co-inventor Dr. Stephen Steinberg (40+ years in GI and academic medicine, thousands of EUS procedures performed), CTO and co-inventor Scott Corbett (30+ years in ultrasound engineering, 19 patents, formerly of GE and Tyco Healthcare), COO Paul Henwood (operations executive and former ultrasound engineer who helped lead MicroConnex through a successful exit to Carlisle Interconnect Technologies), and CCO Josh Cohn (18 years in medtech sales, former National Sales Director at Pentax Medical focused on EUS). EndoSound estimates its TAM at approximately $19B (global gastrointestinal diagnostics and echo-endoscopy), SAM at $7.2B, and initial SOM at $1.8B, based on approximately 8 million annual upper endoscopy procedures in the US and internal assumptions about site-of-care distribution and per-procedure pricing. Proceeds from the current Wefunder community round are intended to support commercial expansion, manufacturing and supply chain development, continued product development, and general corporate expenses. The campaign had raised approximately $1.69M from 530 investors at the time of this summary. Key risks include early-stage company status, uncertainty of physician and institutional adoption, reimbursement variability, dependence on key personnel, and competition from established and emerging EUS technologies.

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