With a More than 200% Increase in Employees in One Year, Avail Leaves Playground Global Incubator, Relocates to Santa Clara, and Hires Additional C-Suite Staff
SANTA CLARA, CA. – June 9, 2021 – Avail Medsystems, whose innovative audio/video technology fosters medical education and collaboration through the interactive broadcast of live procedures from the operating room, today announced its move from office at a business incubator into larger independent headquarters due to the substantial growth of its operations and staff, including the addition of C-suite executives.
Now supported by a full-time workforce of 135, Avail had fewer than 10 employees in July 2018 when it closed a series A financing led by Lux Capital, which included an investment from Playground Global. Shortly after closing, Avail moved into Playground’s 70,000-square-foot Palo Alto incubator facility, a former apricot cannery outfitted with five world-class labs. Having outgrown that space, the maker of the portable livestreaming technology is relocating to Santa Clara.
“The Playground was the perfect place for us to begin building an advanced, yet simple technology designed to overcome collaborative barriers, accelerating the way surgeons and members of the medical device industry share their expertise during procedures and ultimately improving patient care,” Avail CEO Daniel Hawkins said. “From its state-of-the-art labs and top-notch support teams to the engaging environment of its employee brainstorming areas, The Playground had an enormous role in promoting our ability to innovate and develop.”
Avail’s more than 200% growth over the past year involved not only additions to its staff, but also a significant Series B $100 million funding round, the expansion of contracts with medical device industry partners, and a continued commitment to innovation that led to the release of five software updates in six months. Its new, larger office space will centralize its developing operations while creating opportunities for enhanced customer support, such as remote sampling of its livestreaming technology through a state-of-the art demo room that will resemble a hospital surgical suite.
To further ensure that it is serving customer needs, the company is embarking on this new chapter with the help of James Domine, previously a senior vice president of TiVo, who joined the Avail team last week as chief technology officer with a mission of accelerating innovation. Mr. Domine will be responsible for leading all of Avail’s new technology development, driving discoveries designed to support surgery by facilitating additional connections between customers. A technology executive with over 25 years of experience building enterprise and consumer software, hardware, and SaaS products, he has led high-performing teams that created award-winning solutions which are in use today in millions of homes and offices.
Mr. Domine was previously the senior vice president for worldwide engineering at TiVo, which recently merged with Xperi. Over his four years at TiVo, Mr. Domine focused on driving value and innovation for both enterprise customers and TiVo’s retail customers. Prior to working with TiVo, Mr. Domine held leading positions with Mediaroom, owned first by Microsoft and then by Ericsson. There, his most recent role was as vice president, product development, TV platforms. Earlier in his career, he co-founded Pipal Systems, which was acquired by Lucent. Mr. Domine holds a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering with honors from the University of Toronto.
“I’m excited to join Avail at this moment of growth and amid so much promise for the company’s end-to-end hardware and software platform. We bring streaming and real-time collaboration to the iPads and computers of physicians, surgeons, students and medical-device representatives across the globe, enabling them to observe and virtually interact with broadcasting practitioners,” Mr. Domine said. “The Avail System was built to allow the simple and cost-effective sharing of knowledge despite barriers to in-person procedure support and training, such as constraints on time, travel, and hospital foot traffic, and I’m looking forward to forging additional solutions that will make this groundbreaking system an even more accessible and comprehensive tool for collaboration.”
The Avail System includes a lightweight, wheeled Console that can easily be moved through a facility and quickly set up for use, with high-definition pan-tilt-zoom cameras with 30x zoom, a large display monitor to share views with the remote user, and plug-ins for procedural imaging sources and other media modalities. Remote physicians or medical device experts can engage in two-way communication with the treating medical team via the Avail Remote App, accessible on an iPad or laptop, control cameras and imaging views with annotation and other on-screen features and share broadcasts with larger audiences. Members of the Avail network log in through the advanced Member Hub to manage their schedules and availability. Avail’s unique membership model requires no capital equipment purchase and includes around-the-clock service and support.
About Avail Medsystems
Avail Medsystems is a pioneering technology company that removes barriers associated with live observation and collaboration during medical procedures, including travel and costs. With a customer-centric business model, Avail’s purpose-built technology digitizes physical presence in the procedure room and enables instant HIPAA-HITECH protected collaboration and communication among a network of healthcare professionals and industry experts. For more information about Avail Medsystems, visit Avail.io and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
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Avail Media Contacts:
Shannon Severino
412-608-2393
[email protected]
Michelle Stevens
Avail Medsystems
435-503-1278
[email protected]