With RESI heading to Toronto for the first time, LSN has been delighted to find that many investors are interested in coming to MaRS to get involved in Toronto's healthcare innovation hub. Ranging from local Ontario funds to firms from the far side of the world, these investors will gather on June 23rd to meet with startup companies from Canada and beyond. If you'd like to join us at RESI on MaRS to book meetings with these investors and more, register here.

Fundraising for a traditional medical device in the past several years has been tough, and it's not getting any easier. New, groundbreaking therapeutic technologies and the explosion of health IT/digital health solutions has prevented a large portion of venture (and corporate) dollars from making their way into companies developing medical devices that require FDA approval, and don't have some type of software or data component. In addition to "sexier" technologies wooing venture and strategic investors, some other difficult realities for medical devices include a poor exit environment, lower returns (as a sector) compared to biopharma and health IT and the fact that reimbursement still remains a formidable challenge. All of that aside, there is still a need in the healthcare arena for innovative medical devices.

In our second RESI conference of 2016, held at the TMCx accelerator, an experienced group of early-stage medical device investors discussed the sector's current and future outlook, the Texas healthcare ecosystem and shared their insights on how entrepreneurs developing these products can successfully navigate the investment landscape. Moderated by Angela Shah, Editor, Xconomy, panelists include: