Checkpoint Surgical has announced that it will add 18 new jobs at its headquarters in Highland Hills, Ohio, with the assistance of an Ohio Job Creation Tax Credit totaling $200,000. The addition of these 18 jobs comes with an associated payroll of $1.9 million; Checkpoint Surgical will also retain its current 17 employees with an associated payroll of nearly $2.3 million. The new jobs added will be in such areas as engineering, technical support, sales and marketing.
Checkpoint Surgical partners with surgeons to advance the understanding of nerve function and recovery. The company’s handheld nerve stimulation devices inform intra-operative decision-making and enable surgeons to protect, assess and restore nerves across the anatomy.
“The State’s support helps to reduce the cost of growing here in our hometown, allowing the company to keep more of our team local as opposed to other locations outside the state,” says Len Cosentino, president and CEO of Checkpoint Surgical. “This support is critical to managing the high costs associated with scaling a medical device company in a highly competitive worldwide market.”
BioEnterprise, the nonprofit accelerator that works to build Cleveland’s healthcare industry, collaborated with partners JobsOhio and Team NEO on this project, and was also an investor in Checkpoint Surgical through its Medical Growth Fund I.
“We are excited to see Checkpoint Surgical’s continued progress and growth in the field of neurostimulation, which is a $15 billion industry,” says Aram Nerpouni, president and CEO of BioEnterprise. “Their growth is reflective of the rich history of innovation in neurostimulation product development in Northeast Ohio, which can also be found in its parent company, NDI Medical, and NDI’s other spin-outs.”
In September 2019, Checkpoint Surgical received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its Checkpoint brief electrostimulation therapy (BEST) device, which is designed to promote nerve regeneration in surgical procedures for nerve injury. The Breakthrough Device Designation is a process designed to expedite the development of therapies for serious conditions that show promise in making substantial improvements over what’s currently available.
“Along with JobsOhio, BioEnterprise and our local partners, we congratulate Checkpoint Surgical on its expansion and welcome the new high-paying jobs it will bring to the region,” says Team NEO CEO Bill Koehler. “Checkpoint Surgical is an example of how innovative healthcare companies are leveraging our region’s prestigious educational institutions and talented workforce to grow.”
In September 2018, Checkpoint Surgical completed an $8.8 million equity financing round led by Mutual Capital Partners, with additional participation by Chicago-based First Analysis, JumpStart NEXT Fund and several individual investors. That investment allowed the company to add new sales and marketing resources, develop new market opportunities and build out its R&D team.
“We are excited about the continued growth at Checkpoint, driven by great progress and prospects for positively impacting medical care,” says Wayne Wallace, co-founder of Mutual Capital Partners. “Watching the team advance nerve protection and repair through novel new products is rewarding. The side benefit of high-quality job creation in Northeast Ohio is awesome as MCPF continues to think globally and act locally.”
“We are pleased that Checkpoint Surgical has chosen our community as its home,” says Michael Booker, mayor of the Village of Highland Hills. “They are a company that exemplifies the Village’s vison of making people lives better.”
About Checkpoint Surgical
Checkpoint Surgical (Cleveland, Ohio) is a privately held medical device company committed to providing surgeons with user-friendly, cost-effective devices to protect and repair nerves intraoperatively across the anatomy. Our mission is to advance the science and practice of nerve protection and repair to improve the quality of life for patients and physicians. Our technologies are state of the art for hand-held motor nerve location, identification and assessment in peripheral nerve repair surgery, targeted muscle reinnervation, upper and lower extremity orthopedic surgery, and head and neck surgical oncology. For more information regarding Checkpoint Surgical please visit www.checkpointsurgical.com.
About BioEnterprise
BioEnterprise is a business formation, recruitment, and acceleration effort designed to grow the Northeast Ohio healthcare industry. Located in Cleveland, BioEnterprise provides management counsel and support services to health IT, medical device, and biopharmaceutical companies. BioEnterprise partners include Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Clinic, The MetroHealth System and University Hospitals. Since 2002, BioEnterprise and its partners have created, recruited and accelerated more than 350 health IT, medical device, and biopharmaceutical companies, and have helped these companies raise more than $3 billion in new funding. To learn more: www.BioEnterprise.com.
About JobsOhio
JobsOhio is a private nonprofit corporation designed to drive job creation and new capital investment in Ohio through business attraction, retention and expansion efforts. JobsOhio works with six regional partners across Ohio.
About Team NEO
Team NEO is a private, nonprofit economic development organization accelerating business growth and job creation throughout the 18 counties of Northeast Ohio. As the designated JobsOhio Network Partner, we align and amplify local economic development efforts in Northeast Ohio’s 18-county region; we conduct research and data analysis to inform local conversations and influence solutions; we market Northeast Ohio as a region; and we work to increase access to jobs, education and training for the region’s 4.3 million people. For more information, visit teamneo.org.
