ClearIt
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
ClearIt (later Clear Intradermal Technologies, Inc.) was a medical device startup founded in 2013 by Dr. James W. Winkelman and Martin E. Schmieg. It developed the ERASER System, a patented non-thermal device intended to remove tattoos in a single, painless treatment while avoiding the side effects of laser removal. The company raised about $4.36 million in venture funding and held roughly 15 patents, but the device never obtained US FDA clearance and never reached the market.
02 / ClearIt FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
The ERASER System never secured FDA clearance despite more than a decade of development; a 2015 distribution and investment deal had anticipated clearance in early 2017, which never materialized, and the product's US trademark was abandoned in 2022. A planned public listing via a reverse takeover of 1290457 B.C. Ltd. announced in December 2021 was mutually terminated in February 2024. The company's website has since gone offline and no commercial product ever launched.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
ClearIt, LLC was founded in Massachusetts by Dr. James W. Winkelman and Martin E. Schmieg to develop a single-treatment tattoo removal device.
- Strategic deal
US Stem Cell (formerly Bioheart) secured rights to purchase up to a 15% stake in ClearIt and distribution rights to the ERASER System, with FDA clearance anticipated but not guaranteed for early 2017.
- Trademark filing
The company filed a US trademark application for CLEARIT ERASER covering medical apparatus for tattoo removal.
- Corporate conversion and listing plan
ClearIt LLC converted to Clear Intradermal Technologies, Inc., and announced a binding agreement for a reverse takeover of 1290457 B.C. Ltd. to go public on a Canadian exchange.
- Trademark abandoned
The CLEARIT ERASER trademark application was abandoned after no statement of use was filed.
- Listing deal terminated
The reverse takeover agreement with 1290457 B.C. Ltd. was mutually terminated in February 2024; the company's website later went offline.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Raised approximately $4.36 million in total from investors including Prism VentureWorks.
- 02
In 2021 it planned a Canadian public listing through a reverse takeover of 1290457 B.C. Ltd.; the deal was mutually terminated in February 2024, and amended 2025 filings disclosed that the $1 million in termination shares contemplated by the agreement were never actually issued.
- 03
No audited loss figure was publicly disclosed.