Medtech's New Playbook: Why Operators Are Taking the Helm from Investors

NEWPORT BEACH, CA – July 23, 2026 – In the high-stakes world of medical technology, where breakthrough ideas can languish for years in the valley of death between concept and commercialization, a new firm launched today with a bold proposition: capital is not enough. NovoMed PARTNERS, founded by the executive team that recently steered digital health firm CathWorks to a landmark acquisition by Medtronic, is betting that what medtech entrepreneurs truly need is not just another check, but the seasoned guidance of those who have already navigated the treacherous path from startup to strategic exit.

Officially opening its doors, the Newport Beach-based platform is not a traditional venture fund, a consulting group, or an incubator, but an amalgamation of all three. It is built on a philosophy that is gaining significant traction across the technology landscape: the belief that the most effective builders of new companies are operators who have done it before.

The Operator’s Edge in a High-Stakes Industry

NovoMed PARTNERS’ central claim to differentiation lies in the collective resume of its founding team: Ramin Mousavi, Mike Feher, Fabian Ngo, and Natalie Sickler. This is the core leadership group that transformed CathWorks from an ambitious startup into a category-defining player in cardiovascular diagnostics. Their crowning achievement was orchestrating the company's acquisition by Medtronic, a deal valued at up to $585 million that closed in April 2026. This exit serves as the ultimate proof-of-concept for their operational expertise.

This background distinguishes them from many traditional investment groups. While venture capitalists provide essential fuel, their experience is often in financial engineering and portfolio management, not in the granular, day-to-day challenges of building a medtech company. The NovoMed team’s value proposition is rooted in their direct experience with the specific hurdles of the industry: navigating complex FDA regulatory pathways, designing and executing multi-year clinical trials to generate robust evidence, and scaling a commercial team to penetrate global markets with varying reimbursement landscapes.

“Our experience has taught us that breakthrough innovation alone is not enough,” said Ramin Mousavi, Founder, Chairman & CEO of NovoMed PARTNERS, and the former CEO of CathWorks. “Building enduring companies requires exceptional leadership, disciplined execution, world-class talent, and an unwavering commitment to patients. That is where NovoMed PARTNERS is uniquely positioned to help.”

This operator-led model aims to de-risk investments by pairing capital with intensive, hands-on involvement. For a young company, having a partner who has personally negotiated with strategic acquirers, managed a global supply chain, or presented pivotal trial data to skeptical clinicians can be more valuable than capital alone. It is the difference between a map and a guide who has already walked the trail.

A Three-Pillar Platform for Holistic Growth

NovoMed PARTNERS has structured its operations around three integrated pillars designed to support innovators at every stage of the corporate lifecycle. This ecosystem approach is a deliberate move to create a flywheel effect, where each part of the business strengthens the others.

First, NovoMed Portfolio Companies acts as the investment and company-building arm. The firm plans to take significant stakes in a focused portfolio of companies, providing not just funding but also strategic leadership, operational support, and access to its network. This pillar is about active partnership, embedding the founders' expertise directly into the governance and strategy of the companies they back.

Second, NovoMed Advisory Services offers the team's expertise to a broader clientele, including established medtech companies, investors, and private equity firms facing critical inflection points. This allows the firm to leverage its operational knowledge on challenges ranging from corporate strategy and M&A planning to commercial scaling and leadership development, extending its impact beyond its direct portfolio.

Finally, NovoMed Studio is conceived as the firm’s content and collaboration engine. This pillar aims to foster a community by bringing together physicians, entrepreneurs, and investors to debate unmet clinical needs and vet new ideas. By creating original content and thought leadership, the Studio intends to connect the global medtech ecosystem, serving as both a source of new opportunities for the investment arm and a platform to elevate the innovations shaping healthcare’s future.

This tripartite structure is designed to be self-reinforcing. The Studio identifies promising ideas and talent, the Portfolio arm builds them into successful companies, and the Advisory arm disseminates best practices and captures insights from the wider market, creating a continuous loop of innovation and execution.

Addressing the Real Gaps in Medtech Innovation

The launch of this platform comes at a time when medtech entrepreneurs face a daunting array of challenges. Beyond securing funding, they must contend with an increasingly stringent global regulatory environment, pressure to generate overwhelming clinical and economic evidence, and the immense difficulty of global commercialization. Many promising technologies fail not because the science is flawed, but because the founding team lacks the operational experience to overcome these hurdles.

NovoMed PARTNERS is explicitly designed to fill this experience gap. The firm's focus is on providing the strategic and operational horsepower needed to translate a brilliant idea into a durable, high-growth business. By offering guidance on building world-class teams, cultivating a high-performance culture, and executing complex global strategies, the platform aims to be the partner of choice for entrepreneurs who recognize that vision without disciplined execution is insufficient.

With a long-term vision to become one of the industry's premier company-building platforms, the team is already signaling its intent to be a major connector in the ecosystem, with the founders recently seen engaging with innovators at major industry events like LSI Asia 2026 in Singapore. By combining their proven track record, deep industry relationships, and a clear, operator-centric model, NovoMed PARTNERS is making a compelling case that they have crafted a new and potentially more effective playbook for building the next generation of transformative medical technology companies.