Penta Medical
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
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Sections to complete：02 · 05
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Penta Medical was a HealthTech startup from the University of Waterloo (Kitchener, Ontario, Canada), founded by Alexa Roeper and Daniel Choi. It developed Helios, a wearable, software-enabled cold-laser therapy device that used infrared light to increase blood circulation to injured tissue, equipped with a gyroscope and accelerometer to measure range of motion and track recovery — aimed at helping athletes heal bone, muscle and soft-tissue injuries at home rather than in clinics. The company went through Waterloo's Velocity program, the Accelerator Centre and Y Combinator.
02 / FAILURE REASONS
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03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Company founded
Penta Medical is founded by University of Waterloo students Alexa Roeper and Daniel Choi (PitchBook records a 2015 founding).
- Velocity Fund win
Penta Medical wins $35,000 at the Velocity Fund Finals, plus a $10,000 prize for best hardware or life-sciences startup.
- HealthTech prominence
Penta Medical appears as an international HealthTech company supplying a portable cold-laser therapy device; co-founder Roeper speaks at the Waterloo Innovation Summit.
- Status: out of business
PitchBook lists Penta Medical's ownership status as 'Out of Business'; no specific closure date, acquirer or bankruptcy record is documented.
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 / AFTERMATH
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.