Hachach-Haram: How Proximie builds digital bridges to the OR; Norris: Q1 VC, the good, the bad

·1 hr 7 min·5 clips

John Norris reveals Q1 2025 saw $2.6B in MedTech VC, the biggest quarter in three years, while Dr. Nadine Hashash-Haram built Proximie from a war-torn childhood to a global OR OS.

The episode opens with host Tom Slong introducing the show's format and two main segments. He first welcomes John Norris of HSBC Innovation Banking to discuss Q1 2025 MedTech venture capital data. Norris notes that MedTech investors are 'steady Eddie' compared to biotech and health tech, with Q1 seeing $2.6 billion invested across 133 deals in the U.S. and Europe, a 30% jump from 2024 averages. He highlights that the top 10% of deals captured 50% of the dollars, with 16 deals over $50 million—half funding commercialization-stage companies (510K or PMA cleared, in revenue) and half funding early-stage PMA pivotal or feasibility trials. Norris explains that traditional VCs are favoring later-stage PMA trials to shorten time to exit, making early-stage Series A fundraising 'difficult.' He points out a rebound in early-stage cardiovascular deals (four deals, $60 million in Q1 after only one in all of 2023) and continued interest in neuro and non-invasive monitoring. Norris predicts Q2 investment will likely revert to around $2 billion due to regulatory uncertainties and FDA delays. He briefly outlines HSBC's growth in MedTech banking over two years. The second segment features Dr. Nadine Hashash-Haram, a reconstructive plastic surgeon and CEO/founder of Proximie. She recounts her background growing up in a war-torn country, which inspired her focus on global health and medical device innovation. Proximie started in 2017 after a self-funded prototype tested in low-resource settings showed it could train twice as many doctors in half the time. The company began with telepresence as an entry point and evolved into a vendor-neutral, procedure-neutral operating system that integrates real-time connectivity, ambient data capture, and AI-enabled insights. Hashash-Haram explains Proximie's SaaS model, which doesn't charge for hardware but offers turnkey solutions when needed. She details how Proximie helps health systems by optimizing OR time (a study showed 24% optimization, enabling three extra procedures per OR per week), accelerating training, and reducing administrative burden via ambient intelligence. For medical device companies, Proximie provides an SDK for integration, white-labeling, and real-world evidence collection, noting that 60% of device firms are not cloud-enabled. She emphasizes Proximie's role as a unifying platform to avoid app fragmentation in the OR and discusses collaborations with big tech companies on AI/LLM tooling. Hashash-Haram states Proximie is not currently fundraising after an $80 million round in 2022, focusing on capital efficiency and growth. She observes that digital adoption in healthcare has increased post-COVID, with health systems now prioritizing digitization, cloud migration, and tech-enabled workforce solutions. The episode concludes with promotions for DeviceTalks events in Boston and Minnesota and a Surgical Robotics Virtual Week.

As heard by us

A surgeon's practical view of digital OR infrastructure meets a clear reading of medtech venture capital.

This Device Talks episode pairs a grounded look at digital infrastructure in the operating room with a measured read on medtech capital. Dr. Nadine Hashash-Haram, surgeon and Proxime CEO and founder, traces the company's start in telepresence to time spent with doctors, nurses,…

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Why you'd press play

You get a double feature: a surgeon-founder building digital infrastructure for the OR, then a clear Q1 read on MedTech VC.

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