Winter Innovations one of five finalists for the MedTech Innovator’s 2025 Value Award
The Value Award Finals will take place during the MedTech Strategist Innovation Summit in San Diego, CA, from November 19-21.
Winter Innovations Inc. has been selected as a finalist for the MedTech Innovator’s 2025 Value Award, which recognizes start-ups that have excelled throughout the MedTech Innovator program in defining, refining, and generating evidence to support their value proposition.
The Knoxville-based start-up is one of five finalists for the Value Award that serves as the final competition of the world’s largest accelerator for medical technology companies, highlighting ventures that demonstrate exceptional potential to deliver value to patients, providers, and healthcare systems worldwide.
Earlier this year, MedTech Innovator selected Winter Innovations as one of 64 cohort companies from nearly 1,500 global applicants, representing the top 4 percent of innovations worldwide. Through the program, Winter InnovaCons benefited from comprehensive mentorship, strategic guidance, and access to an unparalleled network of investors, providers, and strategics. This support enabled the company to advance the commercialization of EasyWhip®, its patented and Food and Drug Administration-cleared two-part needle system that improves efficiency and biomechanical security in orthopedic soft tissue surgery.
Acceptance into the MedTech Innovator program requires selection by strategic industry sponsors. Winter Innovations’ sponsors were Johnson & Johnson and Zimmer Biomet, who supported the company throughout its participation in the cohort. As part of the Value Award process, Winter Innovations collaborated closely with Mina Kabiri of Johnson & Johnson, who served as the company’s value coach. Together, they refined EasyWhip®’s value proposition, mapped key stakeholders, quantified the value delivered to each, and developed a roadmap for ongoing clinical and economic evidence generation.
“Being selected as a Value Award finalist is an incredible honor,” said Lia Winter, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Winter InnovaCons. “This recognition reflects not only the impact of EasyWhip® but also the guidance we’ve received from our sponsors and mentors throughout the MedTech Innovator program.” Preston Dishner, Chief Operating Officer and Co-Founder, added, “We’re grateful to MedTech Innovator and our mentors for helping us strengthen the value and evidence strategies that will support broader adoption of EasyWhip®.”
The Value Award Finals will take place during the MedTech Strategist Innovation Summit in San Diego, CA, from November 19-21, 2025. Winter Innovations will be among five finalists pitching to a panel of industry experts and a live audience of innovators, investors, strategics, and healthcare leaders. The audience will vote in real time to select the winner of a $25,000 non-dilutive funding award.
In addition to Winter Innovations, the other finalists for the 2025 Value Award are:
- InSomaBio (Durham, NC): We Make Fat Amazing;
- Stentit (Eindhoven, Germany): The RFS not only opens up arteries but also triggers the reconstruction of a new artery from the inside-out, as it resorbs;
- VQ Biomedical (Raleigh, NC): A minimally-invasive catheter that safely diffuses oxygen directly into the bloodstream in patients with respiratory failure; and
- Wavelet (New Haven, CT.): A novel, noninvasive fetal EEG technology that detects real-time fetal distress to improve outcomes for mother and baby.
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