Stairway Medical is a technology company.
Stairway Medical has raised $48.0M across 1 funding round.
Stairway Medical has raised $48.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Stairway Medical is a technology company developing innovative medical devices to enhance patient safety during procedural sedation. Their core product maintains an open airway as drowsiness increases, addressing a key risk in sedation for medical examinations and treatments where full anesthesia is avoided.[3] This solves the problem of airway blockage leading to respiratory arrest, serving healthcare providers performing procedures on moderately sedated patients, with potential for broader adoption as sedation practices grow.
The company emerges from Lund University innovation, focusing on safer sedation alternatives to reduce post-procedure fatigue and confusion.[3] Conflicting sources describe unrelated products like stair-climbing tech for patient transport[1] or brain-computer interfaces[2], but the most consistent and detailed evidence points to the airway device from university-backed origins.[3]
Stairway Medical was founded by Jonas Åkeson, Magnus Ljungvall, Michael Braian, and Thomas List, leveraging expertise likely from medical and engineering backgrounds at Lund University in Sweden.[3] The idea stemmed from the rising use of procedural sedation—administering short-acting sedatives for moderate drowsiness during exams and treatments—where airway obstruction poses a critical risk as sedation deepens.[3]
Early development focused on a simple medical device to keep airways open, making sedation safer and more accessible without full anesthesia.[3] This university spinout represents a pivotal moment in translating clinical needs into practical innovation, humanizing the founders' drive to mitigate real-world sedation hazards.
Stairway Medical rides the trend toward minimally invasive sedation in outpatient care, fueled by demands for faster procedures and shorter recoveries amid rising healthcare volumes. Timing aligns with global shifts to procedural sedation over anesthesia, reducing costs and patient burden in an aging population prone to routine diagnostics.[3]
Market forces like sedation safety regulations and medtech innovation hubs (e.g., Lund University) favor such devices, positioning Stairway to influence ecosystem standards for airway management. It contributes to broader medtech evolution, bridging academic research with clinical tools amid investor interest in patient-access innovations.[5]
Stairway Medical is poised for clinical trials, regulatory approvals, and partnerships with sedation-heavy providers like endoscopy or dental clinics, capitalizing on sedation's expansion. Trends in outpatient medtech and AI-assisted monitoring could amplify its impact, potentially evolving into a platform for sedation adjuncts.
As a Lund University gem, its influence may grow through acquisitions by larger medtech firms, redefining safe sedation norms and tying back to revolutionizing patient mobility—not via stairs, but through unblocked airways in critical moments.[3]
Stairway Medical has raised $48.0M in total across 1 funding round.
Stairway Medical's investors include Qiming Venture Partners.
Stairway Medical has raised $48.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $48.0M Series B in February 2025.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 1, 2025 | $48.0M Series B | Qiming Venture Partners |