E-merge Capital Partners

E-merge Capital Partners

E-merge Capital Partners was formed in 2021 by Brad Klos and John M. Xitco, two San Diego-based operators who had already co-founded and exited multiple medical device startups. Klos had previously led Traverse Vascular to a 2022 acquisition and co-founded SinglePass Transseptal, while Xitco brought capital and deal-making experience from a career spanning real estate, energy distribution, and alternative finance. Their partnership crystallized around a shared conviction that early-stage medical device investing demands hands-on operational support — not just a check. The firm's strategy centers on direct equity investments in early-stage medical device companies, with a clear focus on interventional cardiology, vascular surgery, neurovascular access, and cardiac electrophysiology. E-merge writes seed and Series A checks, often as a lead or co-lead investor, while also maintaining a growth equity allocation for later-stage follow-ons. Portfolio companies are product-stage enterprises developing catheter-based technologies, percutaneous devices, and venous intervention tools. The firm leverages a three-tier advisory structure — a Business Advisory Board (regulatory, IP, reimbursement experts), a Medical Advisory Board (practicing interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons, and interventional radiologists from institutions like Emory, Northwestern, and Guy's & St. Thomas' NHS Trust), and a dedicated in-house incubator called Evolve Medtech Partners. Evolve serves as both a deal-sourcing engine and a co-development partner for E-merge's portfolio, effectively blurring the line between investor and operating company. Geographically, the portfolio spans companies with R&D and commercial footprints across the United States and the United Kingdom. The firm operates from offices in San Diego and Tacoma, with a lean investment team led by Klos and Xitco and supported by Venture Partner Randy Werneth, a serial device entrepreneur and inventor with more than 70 U.S. patents. Jim Pray, a founding executive of Penumbra who led that company's global commercial buildout, serves as a Limited Partner and Advisor. The larger ecosystem includes a deep bench of affiliated clinicians and functional specialists who provide due-diligence support and board-level guidance to portfolio companies. In May 2021, E-merge announced the first closing of E-merge Fund I, marking its formal entry as an active early-stage device investor (per the firm, May 2021). What distinguishes E-merge is its structural integration of an incubator — Evolve Medtech Partners — directly within the investment firm's orbit. Most venture firms offer operational support; E-merge's managing partners physically co-found and incubate the very companies they fund, then exit them to strategic acquirers like Boston Scientific or Abbott. This closed-loop model — incubate, fund, grow, exit — gives the firm a proprietary deal pipeline and a level of clinical and regulatory fluency that pure financial sponsors rarely match. The result is a capital vehicle purpose-built for a narrow corridor of Class II and III interventional devices where product risk is high and operating expertise is the scarce input.