Episode 78
The Himalaya of Medtech: Building a Next-Gen Heart Pump From Scratch with Louis de Lillers
In this episode of the Crux of Cardio, your host Jordan Burgin sits down with Louis de Lillers, CEO of CorWave, the French company developing a next-generation LVAD powered by the wave membrane technology inspired by the motion of marine animals. Louis shares why current LVADs leave patients alive but without a pulse, and how CorWave’s approach could restore physiological blood flow, reduce devastating adverse events, and even open the door to cardiac recovery. “He also gets candid about what it really takes to build a medtech company from five employees to first-in-human in an industry where billion-dollar leaders thrive, the fundraising journey that included the European Commission’s first direct equity investment since 1957, and why the best advice he can give founders is: if you can avoid raising money, don’t raise money.



