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Aztron Medtech Secures $2.5M to Address Achilles Tendon Surgery, with Backing from NBA Surgeon
During this year’s NBA playoffs, fans saw several star players including Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and Tyrese Haliburton suffer Achilles tendon injuries. These incidents have raised broader concerns about player health, especially since this type of injury often requires up to a year of recovery, and all strength training has to start from scratch.
Now, one of the top surgeons who operates on these elite athletes is in talks with a medtech startup from Taiwan, Aztron Medtech, to accelerate the development of Achilles tendon treatments. The company recently announced it has raised 2.5 million US dollars in a Seed+ funding round. The round was led by the well-known angel investment group Next Level Investment, with participation from strategic partners such as Wistron Venture Capital.
Innovative Device for Achilles Repair Wins Praise from NBA Surgeon
We visited his clinic in New York, and the walls were covered with signed jerseys from KD and Mike Conley. It was fascinating,” said Aztron Medtech CEO Ben（Yi-Hsi） Huang (pictured left). His excitement came not only from seeing memorabilia, but also from the potential this high-profile partnership brings to Aztron’s expansion in the US market.
Aztron Medtech focuses on solving a specific problem: repairing acute mid-substance Achilles tendon ruptures. With its TendMIN™ ultrasound-guided minimally invasive surgery system, the company aims to accelerate healing while reducing the risk of infection or nerve damage.
Traditionally, open surgery for Achilles repair requires an incision of 8 to 10 centimeters. This often results in significant soft tissue disruption, a higher risk of postoperative infection, and a longer recovery period. In contrast, Aztron’s patented TendMIN™ Telescoping Needle and Grasper system allows surgeons to perform the procedure through an incision of just around 1 centimeter, making the repair more efficient and less invasive.
Under ultrasound guidance, the TendMIN™ Telescoping Needle offers precise control for suture delivery, while the TendMIN™ Grasper features a low-profile, flexible design that safely retrieves sutures with minimal tissue disruption. The system does not require any additional capital equipment and can be seamlessly integrated into existing operating room workflows. This simplifies the surgical procedure and potentially helps speed up patient recovery.
Aztron Medtech has already made progress in the US market. After completing market testing from February to June 2022 and establishing a local entity, the TendMIN™ system received official FDA listing in March 2025.
According to CEO Ben Huang, the product is already generating revenue and is currently being used by 15 surgeons. The company has completed 50 clinical cases so far. Over the past two months, usage has doubled, with a repeat usage rate of 85 percent — a strong indicator of market acceptance for the TendMIN™ system.
Expanding in North America and Strengthening AI Integration
Aztron Medtech COO Ilin Tsai (pictured right) shared that since establishing the company’s U.S. entity in 2022, they’ve spent nearly three years focused entirely on product optimization. The results are now starting to show. “Many surgeons told us the first-generation device wasn’t intuitive enough. It required pulling multiple threads just to complete a procedure, which is why we developed the telescoping needle,” he explained.
Ben Huang also pointed out that ultrasound-guided accuracy is still a challenge, since many physicians have not yet received enough training to correctly identify tendon structures in ultrasound images. To address this, Aztron Medtech is committed to advancing physician support tools and leveraging AI innovation to further enhance the precision of minimally invasive tendon repair.
This is the main purpose behind Aztron Medtech’s recent 2.5 million US dollar funding round. The investment comes from a diverse and strategic group that includes Wistron Venture Capital, Next Level Investment — an angel group made up of U.S. physicians and distributors — and 36 Capital. These investors bring more than capital. They provide industry experience and market access, especially through the physician and distributor network represented by Next Level Investment, which will help Aztron Medtech accelerate its expansion in the U.S. market.
According to Ben Huang, Aztron Medtech plans to work with leading foot and ankle specialists and surgical centers in these areas to strengthen its market share in the United States.
On the product side, in addition to scaling up mass production of the new TendMIN™ ultrasound-guided minimally invasive system, the team will also invest in physician training tools and AI-powered software to address the challenge of ultrasound precision.
Ben Huang revealed that more than 80,000 Achilles tendon ruptures occur each year in the United States. Aztron Medtech hopes that TendMIN™ will become the new standard treatment option for this widespread injury.
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