ARTICLE SUMMARY:
The Innovation Nexus program created by the American Urological Association in 2023 is an innovation ecosystem that connects entrepreneurs, clinicians, investors, and industry partners in mentoring relationships that are mutually beneficial. It’s perhaps one reason why urology is, surprisingly, a hot area of investment right now.
For the medtech industry, urology has historically been perceived as a reliable revenue-producing but unglamorous specialty, dominated by products like endoscopes and cystoscopes, slings and meshes, lithotripsy systems, kidney stone retrieval baskets, and tools for prostate resection. But as recently noted in MedTech Strategist’s monthly column of private medtech funding, in May at least five companies operating in urology received venture capital—Urologic Health, BlueWind Medical, Butterfly Medical, Rivermark Medical, and UroMems—causing us to delve into what makes urology so attractive right now. (See “MedTech Capital Matters,” MedTech Strategist, June 26, 2026.)
“Well,” notes Steven Kaplan, MD, an internationally recognized expert on prostate disease who directs the Men's Wellness Program of the Mount Sinai Health System and a professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, “people are getting older, and they’re increasingly interested in improving their lifestyle.” He points to incontinence, which, across all its forms, affects 25-33 million people in the US. “It’s insane that so many people have to wear pads and diapers. We can do better.” Bladder cancer and prostate cancer are also more prevalent as people age.
