Holland’s Cultivate(MD) Invests in Grand Rapids’ HAPPE Spine Implant

Holland, Mich.-based Genesis Innovation Group’s cultivate(MD) Capital Fund I and cultivate(MD) Capital Fund II LP have invested in Grand Rapids-based HAPPE Spine, a company that created a fully porous, bioactive PEEK implant for interbody spinal fusions.
1015
spine X-ray
The cultivate(MD) capital funds have invested in HAPPE Spine, which makes a fully porous, bioactive PEEK implant for interbody spinal fusions. // Stock photo

Holland, Mich.-based Genesis Innovation Group’s cultivate(MD) Capital Fund I and cultivate(MD) Capital Fund II LP have invested in Grand Rapids-based HAPPE Spine, a company that created a fully porous, bioactive PEEK implant for interbody spinal fusions.

Cultivate(MD) is a medical device venture capital fund that works to bring emerging health care innovations to market. It has a special focus on medical device and orthopedic technologies.

This is the second round of financing for HAPPE that Genesis and its cultivate(MD) capital funds have participated in.

“HAPPE’s technology is commercializing a distinctive polymer technology,” says Doug Snell, engineering director at HAPPE Spine. “Our proprietary molding methods enable us to offer an implant material with fully interconnected porosity, including hydroxyapatite whisker exposure throughout the structure, allowing for the promotion of bony ingrowth onto and within the implant. The manufacturing method enables the implant density or porosity to be advantageously varied to optimize both osteointegration and biomechanical loading.”

Ryan K. Roeder at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana modified PEEK, creating a material that is strong, bioactive (having or producing an effect on living tissue) and radiolucent (transparent to X-rays).

“Our biomaterial and manufacturing technology has opened the door to new implant designs that surgeons quickly recognize as being intuitively advantageous but unlike anything else on the market,” says Roeder. “Excitement will continue to build in the year ahead with the release of our cervical implant and submission for regulatory approval.”