Vensana Capital Launches Vensana Innovation and Adds Thomas Tu, MD, as Venture Partner

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MINNEAPOLIS & WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 7, 2025--

Vensana Capital (“Vensana”), a leading venture capital and growth equity investment firm dedicated to medical technology, today announced the launch of Vensana Innovation (“VI”), a medtech innovation engine newly established by the firm. VI will be led by Thomas Tu, MD, a highly respected clinician and seasoned medtech executive who has joined Vensana as a Venture Partner after years of close collaboration with the Vensana team during his tenure as Chief Medical Officer at Inari Medical.

Vensana Innovation’s mission is to identify, develop, and commercialize novel medical technologies that address significant unmet clinical needs. VI’s development model provides entrepreneurs and management teams with funding, resources, expertise, and guidance to transform breakthrough concepts into successful products and companies. Opportunities will span internally generated insights, physician- or inventor-led collaboration, emerging companies seeking a capital partner with the resources of a deeply experienced dedicated team, and large medical device companies considering creative paths to optimize product portfolios.

As CEO of VI, Dr. Tu brings deep expertise in medical technology development, clinical practice, and healthcare innovation. At Inari, he helped develop the company’s core technology platform, execute numerous clinical studies to position peripheral thrombectomy as standard of care, and establish Inari as the global leader in the treatment of venous thromboembolism. Prior to his executive career, Dr. Tu was a practicing interventional cardiologist for two decades, serving as cardiology catheterization lab director and leading the pulmonary embolism, complex percutaneous coronary intervention, and structural heart intervention programs at Baptist Health Louisville. Dr. Tu earned his BA from the University of Virginia and his MD from Harvard Medical School, completing his medical and cardiology training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and is board-certified in interventional cardiology and fellowship-trained in peripheral vascular intervention.

Beyond Dr. Tu, VI will be driven by a seasoned founding team that includes Chairman Bill Hoffman, R&D leaders Ben Merritt, Cole Thress, and Brian Merritt, and Advising CTO Phil Marchand. Collectively they bring decades of product development, clinical, and commercial experience, having advanced numerous disruptive products for category-defining companies such as Inari Medical (acquired by Stryker in 2025) and Sequent Medical (acquired by Terumo in 2016).

"I am thrilled to join Vensana Capital and to lead Vensana Innovation," said Dr. Tu. "The opportunity to work with exceptional entrepreneurs to develop technologies that meaningfully impact patient care is incredibly compelling. The expertise of the VI team coupled with Vensana's proven track record of building successful medtech companies creates an ideal environment for fostering innovation and accelerating the path from concept to market."

“I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Tom and Vensana to launch VI,” added Bill Hoffman, VI Chairman and Vensana Venture Partner, formerly CEO of Inari Medical. “This exceptional team is ready for its next chapter focused on launching and building companies that will address important unmet needs and improve outcomes for patients worldwide."

Vensana’s launch of VI and appointment of Dr. Tu underscore the firm's commitment to advancing medical technology innovation across all stages of development. By combining a flexible investment approach with deep expertise and resources, Vensana is positioned to partner with entrepreneurs throughout their entire development journey, while bringing value beyond capital to each of the firm’s portfolio companies.

"Since launching Vensana in 2019, we have built a reputation as a trusted, value-added, roll-up-your-sleeves partner for promising medical technology companies," commented Vensana Managing Partners Kirk Nielsen and Justin Klein, MD, JD. "The addition of Tom and the launch of VI strengthen our ability to support innovation at every stage and advance our vision to establish Vensana as the leading company-building investor in medtech.”

About Vensana Capital

Vensana Capital (“Vensana”) is a venture capital and growth equity investment firm dedicated to partnering with entrepreneurs who seek to transform healthcare with breakthrough innovations in medical technology. Founded in 2019, Vensana has approximately $1 billion in capital under management and is actively investing in development and commercial stage companies across the medtech sector, with a primary focus on medical devices, diagnostics, and clinically-oriented data science companies. Vensana's investment team has a history of successfully partnering with entrepreneurs behind industry-leading companies, including Artelon, Cameron Health, CardiAQ, Cartiva, CV Ingenuity, CVRx, Epix Therapeutics, Inari Medical, Intact Vascular, Lutonix, Neuwave Medical, Personal Genome Diagnostics, Relievant Medsystems, Sequent Medical, Topera, Ulthera, Veran Medical Technologies, Vertiflex, and Vesper Medical. Learn more at www.vensanacap.com.

About Vensana Innovation

Vensana Innovation (“VI”) is the Vensana Capital innovation engine dedicated to launching and building category-defining medical technology companies. Founded in 2025 by leaders from Vensana and Inari Medical, VI combines capital with deep technical, clinical, commercial, and business development expertise to accelerate medtech innovation at every stage. Through VI, companies gain access to dedicated resources as well as the broader platform of Vensana Capital, a leading medtech investor whose principals have guided dozens of companies to successful exits. At VI, we are passionate about advancing breakthrough medical technologies, and we aim to improve healthcare one purpose-built medtech company at a time. Learn more at www.vensanainno.com.

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KEYWORD: MINNESOTA DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA UNITED STATES NORTH AMERICA

INDUSTRY KEYWORD: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES HEALTH MEDICAL DEVICES HEALTH TECHNOLOGY OTHER HEALTH FINANCE GENERAL HEALTH

SOURCE: Vensana Capital

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PUB: 10/07/2025 08:00 AM/DISC: 10/07/2025 07:59 AM

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