Something’s pulsing out of Longmont, CO, and it’s not just another startup heartbeat, it’s Polyembo, the medtech disruptor quietly wiring the next evolution in vascular embolization. Founded in 2022 by serial innovator and 150+ patent holder Shawn P. Fojtik, the company just secured an undisclosed round led by a multinational strategic investor. The amount stays in the vault, but the move signals one thing loud and clear: Polyembo’s gearing up to unclog a $10.36B industry that’s overdue for a redesign.
Fojtik’s track record reads like a medtech mixtape, Distal Access sold to Merit Medical, Resectr to Boston Scientific, Pinyons Medical to Covidien. Now, with Polyembo, he’s tackling a pain point every interventional radiologist knows too well: complex inventory, sluggish occlusion times, and devices that don’t always deliver when precision matters most. His answer? A new family of embolic systems, Scrunchy, Sphere & PuffyCoil, that do more with less.
Scrunchy leads the charge. Built from a spiral-cut Nitinol hypotube stuffed with PET fiber, it expands, seals, and holds like it was built by nature itself. Two versions, SCY-6 for 2-6mm vessels and SCY-9 for 5-9mm, cover what used to require dozens of SKUs, cutting inventory bloat by 90%+. And when you can occlude a vessel in under 3 minutes, you’re not just saving time, you’re rewriting efficiency in real time.
Driving this precision strike is a leadership crew stacked with veterans who’ve seen every corner of medtech. Chief Executive-Senior Advisor John Crowley (not that John Crowley) brings 30+ years from Boston Scientific. CTO DJ Ashurst co-invented Polyembo’s core patents, while Dean Carpenter, Director of Engineering, refined his craft at Aktiv Pharma Group. Engineers Ben Ingram & Renee Kryk add design and testing power that keep the innovation cycle spinning.
Clinical validation isn’t left to chance. Dr. Jeremy Durack, Interventional Radiologist at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center, also Chief Clinical Officer at Cordis X & Partner/SVP Medical at Ajax Health, has been a key voice in preclinical studies proving the devices’ precision. On the business side, Independent Board Member Richard Stark, ex-CEO of Innoblative Designs and former SVP at AngioDynamics, brings the experience to turn prototypes into commercial gold.
This new capital fuels regulatory clearance, clinical trials, and the commercialization of Scrunchy, while Sphere & PuffyCoil warm up in the pipeline. The global embolization market’s set to climb from $10.36B in 2025 to $16.35B by 2034 at a 5.2% CAGR, and Polyembo plans to grab its share.
