Illuminant Surgical

💡TL;DR

• We give doctors X-ray vision without the need for headsets or monitors.
• It works in any operating room, requires zero wearables, and seamlessly integrates into existing workflows.
• We're starting with spine surgery, pain management, and interventional radiology - 11M+ annual procedures in the U.S.

❌ The Problem: Patient Access Is Stuck In The 1800s

Every year, hundreds of millions of procedures require precise access to internal anatomy. Whether placing a screw in the spine, inserting a needle for a biopsy, or advancing a catheter, precision is critical. Yet surgeons still rely on outdated tools: fluoroscopy, “feel”, and mental reconstruction, leading to inefficiencies, complications, and billions in unnecessary healthcare costs.

This has serious consequences:

• For patients – misplaced implants, vascular injuries, and nerve damage result in repeat procedures, extended hospital stays, and life-altering complications.
• For hospitals – preventable surgical revisions cost tens of billions annually in unnecessary expenses
• For surgeons – Cumbersome tools and methods that extend case time, increase cognitive load, and limit the number of patients they can treat.

Spine surgery and interventional access are two of the fastest-growing segments and also among the most accuracy-dependent.

In the US alone:

• 1.6 M spine surgeries where millimeters can mean the difference between mobility and disability.
• 9.5 M interventional procedures that rely on accurate percutaneous access to treat and diagnose hundreds of different conditions and diseases.

This is a $10B+ unmet need.

🔎 Our Solution: See Inside The Patient in Real Time, Directly On The Body

We’ve built a new way of seeing inside the human body: Skylight is the first real-time anatomical projection system built to solve the problems with patient access. Instead of forcing doctors to look away at a screen, Skylight projects anatomy directly onto the patient, like an AR display—but without headsets, wearables, or extra steps.

To make this happen, we’ve developed a novel method of tracking the patient with sub-millimeter accuracy and we’ve built this system to be universally compatible with industry-standard tools and scanners to allow adoption without changing workflow.

Just as fiber optics revolutionized how we do laparoscopy and minimally invasive surgeries, anatomical projection will become the new standard for patient access.

Who We Are:

We’re James and Eldrick, two Stanford engineers who first met as freshman dormmates and have now worked together for over a decade.

💉James: MD, bioengineer, scientist, and medical device builder.

⚙️ Eldrick: Experienced deep-tech founder. Built chips at Apple and led hardware-software teams at a lidar startup.

We’ve assembled a world-class team of engineers, clinicians, and medical device experts to solve tough problems at the intersection of medicine, computer vision, graphics, and hardware development.

We’re looking for:

🩺 Clinicians → If you do spine, pain management, or IR, let’s talk.

🏥 Hospital Partners → Want to be at the forefront of procedural navigation? Reach out.

📰 Media → We’re redefining how doctors see. Let’s get the word out.

Email us founders@illuminant.ai 💡