Blaze Medical Devices aims to commercialize, raise angel funds

Blaze Medical Devices is gearing up to begin selling the first units of its blood transfusion product this year, and full commercialization in 2014. The Ann Arbor-based startup's principal product specializes in quality control and optimization for the blood banking and transfusion industry. The technology analyzes stored blood to allow clinicians to predict the effectiveness of transfusions by assessing the levels and rates of quality loss during storage for individual units. The 6-year-old start-up expects to finish initial development of the product early this year and begin sales of it to researchers by this summer. It expects to receive FDA approval sometime next year and begin commercial sales soon after. "The product is in the final phases of its design," says David Weaver, CEO of Blaze Medical Devices. Blaze Medical Devices, which employs three people and the occasional intern, is also in the later stages of fundraising for its angel-seed round. The company landed a $250,000 investment from the Great Lakes Angels Group and expects to close on $1.5 million worth of seed capital by this summer. "We're about halfway (to our goal) now," Weaver says. Source: David Weaver, CEO of Blaze Medical Devices Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.