DUSTIN ARMER & EASON ABBOTT
CO-FOUNDERS
RENATA MEDICAL
WHY: Former R&D engineers from Edwards Lifesciences in 2019 co-founded Newport Beach startup Renata, which makes a stent for congenital heart disease that expands in size as patients age and grow. Received support from executive leadership at Edwards to form their own company after coming up with the idea for the pediatric device. The medtech firm has raised $29M to date.
IN THE NEWS: Last year the company gained Food and Drug Administration approval for its Minima Growth Stent, specifically tailored for neonates, infants and young children. Two days after approval, the stent was implanted in its first patient, a two-year old with severe branch pulmonary artery stenosis, at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
NOTABLE: Armer, CEO of Renata, worked on the third generation of Edwards’ flagship Sapien heart valve. He was inspired to come up with the device after sitting in on surgery of an 11-year-old girl who was unable to be treated because physicians didn’t possess the right-sized equipment. Annette Walker, president of City of Hope Orange County, serves on the company’s board of medical advisors.
IN THEIR WORDS: “There’s the community of investors and accelerators that have lifted us and started us on our Series A to go into this journey.” — Dustin Armer
