Canopy

Canopy has developed a next-generation reusable respirator.

This respirator is a comfortable, affordable alternative to N95 face masks. It’s demonstrated over 99% filtration efficiency in third-party testing, and saves hospitals more than 50% on their Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).

Every day, healthcare professionals and frontline workers must deal with PPE that gets in the way of their comfort, their breathing, and their communication.

Disposable N95 respirators on the market irritate the skin, fog up glasses, force re-breathing of toxic carbon dioxide, and create barriers between essential workers and their patients.

Furthermore, these devices create over 100,000 tons of landfill waste per year and can cost hospitals over $1,000 per employee annually.

But since March 2020, a team of material scientists, biomedical engineers, industrial designers, clinicians, hospital administrators, and former FDA officials has been developing Canopy, a new type of face mask respirator.

This team is led by alumni from top research institutions and innovation hubs — including Google, GE, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Northwell Health, Johns Hopkins, Duke University, and NYU.

Every aspect of Canopy’s PPE was developed based on direct feedback from healthcare professionals and frontline workers. Here are some of its features:

• Comfort: A silicone face seal does not cause skin abrasions.

• Breathability: A proprietary filter has three times the surface area of a disposable N95.

• Communication: A transparent design enables lip reading and facial expressions. (Canopy is working with researchers at Emory University to evaluate the impact of clear respirators on patient anxiety levels.)

• Durability: The masks are sterilizable, dishwasher safe, and can be sanitized with any hospital-grade disinfectant wipe.

• Safety: The mask is a “half-face” design, meaning it has a seal that goes under the chin, and wings that cover the cheeks. This is in contrast to “quarter-face” N95 masks that rest on the chin and run the risk of a broken seal when a person is talking.

• Filtration: Designed by a team with more than 100 patents in medical filtration, Canopy’s patent-pending filter has tested up to 99.8% filtration efficiency in third-party testing.

• Mass-Scale: All but two of Canopy’s components are made in the U.S. and assembled at one of the country’s largest medical contract manufacturing facilities.

Notably, Canopy’s masks don’t rely on globally-scarce materials. Its materials are always in ample supply. There are no metal parts to the device, meaning it can be worn near x-ray and MRI machines.

Canopy has developed working prototypes of its consumer-grade respirators, as well as a line of interchangeable filters. These can be stockpiled in the event of chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear hazards. The company aims to begin shipping its masks in Q1 2021.

Canopy has an upcoming pilot with Northwell, New York’s largest healthcare system. It’s also received interest and purchase requests from Harvard Medical School, Boston Children’s Hospital, Johns Hopkins Medicine, New York Presbyterian, Columbia University Medical Center, and the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System.

To bring its product to market, Canopy has a partnership with Access Strategy Partners, Inc. This sales organization has extensive medical device sales experience, and will lead Canopy’s enterprise healthcare sales strategy. The company’s product suite will also be available through its e-commerce website, and “starter kits” will be available through Amazon and Lowe’s.

With respect to pricing, Canopy will use a razor/razor blade model. This will apply to its mask and interchangeable filters.

Enterprise customers will receive preferred pricing with high volume orders and annual supply agreements to ensure constant PPE compliance. Those who make purchases online can replenish filters as needed, or sign up for subscribe-and-save auto renewals.

Canopy’s closest competitor, Envo Mask, was introduced in Q4 2019, and is selling 1,600 to 2,000 units per day. This represents an annual run rate between $46 million and $58 million — however, Canopy’s design solves the shortcomings of the Envo Mask.

Down the road, Canopy will focus on creating a face shield that can be integrated with the mask. It will also aim to create branded cleaning solutions, such as wipes, tablets, and sprays.

Team Background

Qing Xiang Yee - Head of Product

A native of Singapore, Qing was awarded the prestigious Defense Science and Technology Scholarship in 2009 by the Singapore government. After graduating with top honors in 2013 from Johns Hopkins with a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, and a Master’s in Bioengineering Innovation and Design, he returned to Singapore to work at DSO National Laboratories, the country’s national defense research lab.

During his six-year tenure at DSO, Qing specialized in soldier performance, developing products such as the patented A-Lite backpack, which reduced soldier fatigue by properly distributing heavy loads. The backpack received the company’s Innovation award, and is now standard-issue for the Singapore Army.

Qing’s team drove DSO’s product development strategy. For his work, he was awarded the KINETIC award, the company’s highest internal award.

Jim Walker - Head of Sales and Marketing

Jim began his career as U.S. Director of Sales with Johnson & Johnson Orthopedics, a division of Johnson & Johnson. After that, he spent nearly 20 years as Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Sales with Boston Scientific, a medical device manufacturer.

More recently, he was a principal consultant with Jim Walker & Associates, a consulting company focused on medical device companies. He then co-founded Access Strategy Partners, a healthcare account management and strategy firm.

Jim earned a Bachelor’s degree in Education from Northeastern University.

Doug Clift - Head of Operations

Prior to joining Canopy, Doug spent five years in operations innovation management at DaVita, a healthcare company. His work included streamlining the customer service model for the company’s in-house pharmacy, and developing a new electronic health records system. His efforts contributed to more than $20 million in annual operational cost reductions.

Before that, he was an undergraduate research assistant at the University of Rochester, working in the Department of Biomedical Engineering where he earned his Bachelor’s degree.

Joe Rosenberg - Founder & CEO

Joe began his career spending eight years at Google. While there, he was involved in the company’s focus on retail e-commerce, and led management strategy for projects including Google Express and Purchases on Google. He negotiated agreements impacting more than $1 billion of Google e-commerce transactions.

In 2018, he founded Grove North Ventures, an incubator and accelerator focused on e-commerce business development.

Joe earned a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences from NYU.

Co-Investors