0 (0s):
Well, this is Radio Entrepreneurs and during these times of massive adjustment, uh, we are talking to Entrepreneurs more than ever and more of you are tuning in more than ever to find out what entrepreneurs are doing to stay in business, keep the economy going, keep people employed. And uh, you know, this is a very resilient nation, always has been at a very grassroots level. And, uh, our next guest, and we're not going to call him mr grassroots yet, but, uh, Chris Chris Velis founder of Miraki Innovations right.

0 (31s):
Innovations that's correct. Welcome.

1 (34s):
Thanks Jeff. Thanks for having me.

0 (36s):
Thank you. Uh, Chris uh, tell us about Miraki my dog came back to listen to this interview so,

1 (43s):
well, it's nice to have a solid audience like that. If you can't trust your dog, what can you trust? Um, so Miraki we're a venture fund that specializes in, uh, development of advanced medical technologies. Um, and uh, you know, sometimes almost reluctant to call us a venture fund, um, because it's not so much about what we are, but it's how we do it, that, that makes us special and unique in the, in the world.

0 (1m 15s):
So, uh, how long have you had the fund?

1 (1m 18s):
So I started the company I think almost 16 years ago now. Uh, the fund is actually a newer part of, uh, our business and our evolution. Um, we raised our, uh, last fund about three, three years ago. Um, and we're now in the process of going out and, uh, in this environment, believe it or not, uh, raising our third fund.

0 (1m 43s):
I'm actually not surprised at all. I mean, why wouldn't be investing in a Medical funds? So, uh, let's go a little bit. Um, uh, BC and AC. That's what I, I, I guess the new term BC, uh, was your portfolio. What was your portfolio like and AC? Is it changed somewhat in terms of your investment portfolio?

1 (2m 5s):
No, it hasn't changed. I mean, our philosophy, uh, all along has been the same. We've been investing in and developing companies that really fundamentally all do one of, or two of three things that is save lives, reduce suffering, and bring Medical technology to those in need around the world. And there's never been a time where, uh, in recent history of where I can remember that being quite as, as poignant in people's minds is always been important.

1 (2m 36s):
But right now, people I think understand that mission better than they ever have. So we really haven't had to change our investment philosophy or portfolio. Some of the things going on in our current world are things that we really had anticipated, um, as problems and concerns, um, and had been developing, uh, technologies and solutions to, to address them.

0 (3m 1s):
Interesting. Uh, again, uh, I don't know if you're free to talk about the types of, uh, you know, Medical types of companies that they're working on. Some ideas. Can you give us, can you share some of the ideas that are in your portfolio? And maybe an example of some things of that we

1 (3m 18s):
done in the past might be interesting for listeners to context what we're doing today. So, um, when we began investing, uh, one of the first companies we started was in the area of surgical robotics. We saw some fundamental challenges and opportunities. Um, and one of them was really to try to make, uh, robots that do what's impossible for the human hand to do in order to enable surgeries that were previously impossible.

1 (3m 51s):
And so we found it, or as health in conjunction and, and with Columbia university, Johns Hopkins joined into that, um, and, uh, while it took a while to master the, the goal, or as was eventually bought by Johnson and Johnson last year in, uh, in a very significant, uh, sale, uh, for including the earn out about 5.7 $5 billion and part of their alumni.

1 (4m 21s):
They're an amazing, amazing company, uh, with a lot of incredible people. Really, really good, a great mission. It is now they have a great mission stand on a mission and the company. So that's one example anymore if you'd like to share. So, um, we're now in three critical things and of course we're going to expand that. Um, we're certainly in the area of, uh, human health, wellbeing, uh, optimization, performance optimization, regenerative medicine, and, and, uh, aesthetic medicine.

1 (4m 57s):
We are, uh, also working on a next generation surgical robotics to try to advance that field. Then another major quantum leap for surgical robotics. I think the most interesting thing for listeners today is that, um, we are developing, uh, diagnostics and therapeutics for, um, Covin 19 and we just happen to be there because we're very concerned for a very long time about infectious disease. Uh, the fact that more people die from sepsis than any of the major, uh, uh, diseases of cancer, diabetes and heart disease.

1 (5m 37s):
Um, and it's, it's relatively unknown, um, that it's so serious. We were also very concerned about pandemics and epidemics, uh, like COBIT 19 evolving. So, um, we, uh, are really the custodians of what the department of defense is. Uh, elite group called DARPA had invested about $150 million, uh, in figuring out, um, those grants were spread out. But, uh, it was the Weise Institute at Harvard university that was extremely successful in finding a solution, um, for a technology that could capture pathogens and their byproducts.

1 (6m 19s):
Um, and, uh, today we've turned that into a company called Bo biomedical, which has a series of very advanced diagnostic tools and instruments for physicians and also has a filter. And the purpose of the filter is to filter pathogens including, uh, uh, Colvin, 19 or SARS, Coby to, uh, and its byproducts directly out of people's blood in order to downregulate the immune response.

1 (6m 49s):
Um, and that's been a very, very exciting, uh, project. We were in just the right place as this pandemic, uh, started to take off, um, because we had a technology that, that happened to apply to the, to the situation. Um, and we're fortunate enough to be, uh, the recipients of part of two very, uh, significant government grants from the department of defense, uh, to advance this one to advance the diagnostics, uh, and the other to advance the therapeutic technology.

0 (7m 26s):
Uh, what's your background? Uh, you know, you know, someone might want to guess, you know, financial or healthcare scientific, what's, how did you sort of evolve into this?

1 (7m 36s):
Well, you know, it's a little of everything. That's kind of a loaded question cause um, I like to say my background is I'm a really curious person could learner and I'm somebody who likes to be around, uh, teams of smart people who want to solve big problems. And I've been doing that sort of my whole life. If you change the question a little and said what influences me, I think it was my dad. I grew up around, a doctor brought me to, to work. I watched his practice, I watched him perform surgery. I learned an awful lot from him.

1 (8m 7s):
And he died when I was a junior in high school. I think that forever changed my life. I didn't want to become a doctor anymore and found myself on wall street. And when I got there I felt disconnected from doing things that, that helped people. And I made a major change and said, well, I want to take what I learned in wall street and take those values I grew up with and, and create a company that's focused on, uh, uh, what are going to finance and medicine and make technologies that help people.

1 (8m 39s):
And I'm really happy today. If a team of 30 some people in the office and I'm in a broader team that worked together towards that, towards that goal more than anything, it's, uh, a real positive experience with a great, uh, and a, uh, uh, return to values that I found, uh, uh, had trouble finding to the degree I wanted to on wall street. Not that it was a bad place.

1 (9m 9s):
Um, just that I wanted to do something that helped people a little bit more than I felt I was there.

0 (9m 14s):
Nice. Uh, we've been speaking with Chris Velis, founder of Miraki Innovations at Chris. If somebody was looking for you, wanted to connect with you, learn more about the fund, how could they do that?

1 (9m 24s):
That was you go to www miraki.com M. I. R a. K. I, uh, or, uh, just pop onto Lincoln and, and uh, type in Chris Velis and send me a message.

0 (9m 39s):
Good. Well, I'll tell you, we appreciate you being on the show today and we hope you have a unbelievable success in that category. It's good for all of us.

1 (9m 49s):
Jeff, I really, really appreciate your taking a few minutes and asking some questions. I'm sharing what we do with the world. We're, we're trying our best. I hope we can make it done in this cobot thing. I hope all your listeners and you and your family stay healthy and stay safe.

0 (10m 5s):
Well, I am a, uh, maybe not the career person, but I am an alumni from, uh, surgical division of J and J earlier in my career for training and uh, you know, uh, that ma, you know, that mission that general Johnson had of, uh, ending human suffering cause he was a civil war general. I think everyone who's ever worked in the company knew that is something that, you know, we need more people who understand that obligation to humanity and are working it. So good luck to you.

1 (10m 32s):
Thank you. Thank you. Uh, very much. Uh, it's no surprise to me that uh, somebody who was a civil war general really understood the severity of human suffering. There was so much at that time and that continues to be so much. Hopefully we can all aspire to what he's accomplished and maybe some of us, somebody, I'll get there.

0 (10m 51s):
It takes a lot of leaders. That's what we're hoping. Uh, again, this is Radio Entrepreneurs and we were going to continue, uh, airing stories and we'll come back right after this short break.