In cardiology, a chronic total occlusion is the kind of problem that stares back at you. 100% blocked. No wiggle room. No polite workaround. You either cross it or you do not. That tension is where companies are born.
Elumn8 Medical, Inc., formerly Simpson Interventions, just announced the initial close of its Series C financing and a corporate rebrand out of Campbell, California on Feb 17, 2026. New name. Same obsession. Sharper edge. When you are building for the moments that decide whether a wire finds true lumen or wanders into trouble, branding is not cosmetic. It is conviction made visible.
Congratulations to Joe Knight, CEO, and John B. Simpson, MD, PhD, Founder and CMO. John B. Simpson is now on his 8th medical device company. 8. At that point you are not guessing. You are pattern recognizing at a surgical level. Joe Knight is steering the clinical and regulatory strategy forward, focused on execution, not applause.
The product at the center is Acolyte, an OCT enabled image guided crossing and re entry catheter system designed for minimally invasive treatment of coronary chronic total occlusions. That is not a small niche. CTOs are the cases that test patience and skill. Acolyte integrates real time intravascular imaging directly into the crossing and re entry process, enabling controlled guidewire true lumen crossing and targeted re entry beyond the lesion, used alongside fluoroscopy. Vision inside the vessel. Illumination when it counts. Elumn8 is not just a name, it is a promise to elevate what the operator can actually see.
The FDA has granted Breakthrough Device Designation. The system has an Investigational Device Exemption and has been accepted into the Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program. It has already been used for the first time in a coronary CTO trial. That is how you build credibility in medtech. Not with adjectives. With data, regulators, and real cases.
The Series C initial close strengthens the balance sheet to advance clinical development. Investors signaled confidence in the vision without fanfare or valuation theater. In this market, capital follows clarity. Clear unmet need. Clear technical differentiation. Clear regulatory path.
For interventional cardiologists navigating the most stubborn lesions, image matters. For hospitals balancing outcomes and efficiency, predictability matters. Elumn8 Medical is betting that better visibility leads to better decisions in the most unforgiving corners of coronary disease.
In a field where 1 millimeter can change a life, companies that bring light into the dark do not need to shout. They just need to execute. And when an 8th time founder pairs conviction with capital and clinical momentum, you start to sense that the next chapter in CTO intervention is not about brute force, but about precision you can actually see.
