Madison Scientific

Madison Scientific (MadSci) is an early-stage private medical device company developing smart electro-mechanical devices intended to improve treatment and long-term care of patients with hydrocephalus and other neurologic conditions. Its platform pairs electromechanical valve technology with sensing and algorithms, with the aim of enabling personalized and informed management of neurologic conditions.

The company's first application is the SmartShunt Hydrocephalus Management System, which combines a proprietary valve, an intracranial pressure (ICP) sensor and algorithms designed to optimize shunt drainage to each patient's needs and to integrate diagnostic and therapeutic functions. The stated goals are to use ICP readings to reduce life-threatening shunt failure and to support on-demand, informed patient management. As of the September 2025 announcement, the SmartShunt System remains under development and is not authorized for use or available for sale in any country.

MadSci frames the clinical problem as follows: hydrocephalus, a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain's ventricles that raises intracranial pressure, affects approximately one million children and adults in the U.S.; adults are most often diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus, which the company says may affect 6.8 million adults worldwide and is frequently misdiagnosed. The standard of care is surgical placement of a permanent shunt, a technology the company describes as largely unchanged for roughly 75 years and prone to high failure rates.

Founding story

Co-founders named on the company site include Tyler Wanke (President & CEO), Josh Medow, David Hsu (Madison Scientific Professor of Neurology, University of Wisconsin, Madison) and Christopher Luzzio (neurologist, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health), reflecting clinical origins in neurology and neurosurgery.

Business model

Medical device developer; the SmartShunt System is pre-commercial and not yet authorized for sale in any country, with development funded to date by equity financing and non-dilutive government grants.

Traction

Closed a fully subscribed $7M seed round in March 2025 to grow the team, expand preclinical testing and advance prototype development, then increased aggregate target seed proceeds by $3M to $10M in September 2025 on oversubscription. Previously awarded non-dilutive grants including an NIH Phase I SBIR and an NSF Phase 2 SBIR.

Latest developments

In September 2025 the company announced that seed round target proceeds had been raised by $3M to a $10M oversubscribed total, citing additional institutional and strategic investors, with proceeds directed to product development, expanded preclinical experience and team growth.