A roundup of recent medtech strategic alliances, mergers & acquisitions and financings.

Each month, Start-Up presents a comprehensive review of young, private life science companies that have received venture funding during the month, including companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, diagnostic and research instrumentation & reagent sectors.

Two executives formerly with GE Medical Systems saw an opportunity to help imaging centers off-load, in an economical fashion, at least 25% of their MRI scans. The two founded ONI Medical Systems, developer of a miniaturized system dedicated to extremity imaging-hands, wrists, elbows, knees, ankles and feet--that would be at least one-third of the cost of the whole body scans offered by the major manufacturers, and small enough to fit in an orthopedics suite, without sacrificing image quality. Such a product doesn't necessarily compete with general-purpose whole body scanners, but complements them by decompressing the workload.

In terms of medical applications magnetic resonance imaging could serve, the modality is still underused, and that means a large, untapped growth opportunity for the entrenched large manufacturers that dominate the industry with an installed base of capital equipment. Small companies have a role to play as well, with adjunctive technologies that serve the large players, or in niches too small for the multi-billion dollar players to notice.