UT Ventures backs Solaris Endovascular's $5M round in its first-ever deal
What's the deal? UT VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has made its first investment, backing Dallas-based medical device company Solaris EndovascularDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → in an oversubscribed $5 million convertible bridge round. Solaris develops minimally invasive treatments for patients with dialysis access complications and peripheral artery disease.
Why now? The deal marks a milestone for UT Ventures, which launched in January 2026 with eight founding members and has grown to about two dozen. It signals the angel network's shift from recruitment into active dealmaking with University of Tennessee alumni-led companies.
What's the endgame? Solaris is building a platform around covered stents and drug-eluting technology. Its lead product, Solaris DE, is a sirolimus-eluting covered stent — a mesh tube coated with a drug that helps keep blood vessels from narrowing again after treatment. The company is targeting restenosis and longer-lasting results in dialysis access.
Solaris DE received US Food and Drug AdministrationDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → Breakthrough Device Designation in 2026, a status meant to speed review of technologies addressing serious conditions with few existing options. Its DEScover Trial has completed enrollment, and interim six-month data showed 95% target lesion primary patency, with no device-related serious adverse events reported through 30 days.
Why it matters: Solaris has a UT alumnus on its C-suite — the exact profile the network was built to fund. To draw investment, a company needs someone on its leadership team with educational ties to UT; it can be built anywhere, in any sector.
"Solaris Endovascular was among the first companies to present to our angel network, and the response from our members was immediate," said Maha Krishnamurthy, president and chief executive officer of the University of Tennessee Research Foundation and UT Ventures.
"Support from UT Ventures strengthens our ability to advance Solaris DE and bring a truly differentiated solution to patients who have very few good options today," said John Reviere, Solaris' vice president of clinical and quality operations and a UT Knoxville graduate.
The signal: At $5 million, the round sits in the top 10% of all convertible rounds in the US by size. That places a first-time alumni angel network at the larger end of the convertible market — evidence that university-tied capital can compete for oversubscribed medtech deals.
Read more: teknovation
