Icarus Medical Innovations, a Charlottesville-based medical device startup founded by University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumnus Dave Johnson, is one of America’s fastest growing private companies according to Inc.
The publication ranked Icarus No. 302 on its annual Inc. 5000 list. The ranking is based on the company’s revenue growth of 1,283% over three years, from 2021 to 2024, Inc. says.
Icarus provides custom-made and off-the-shelf knee braces for various treatments, including osteoarthritis, ligament injuries, patellofemoral pain, post-surgical rehabilitation, and neurological conditions affecting gait such as stroke, multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy.
Some half a decade ago, Johnson, who earned his Master of Science at UVA in 2010, just wanted to maintain his healthy lifestyle while working full time as a chemical engineer, he told UVA Today in 2020. An old knee injury from his high school football days was getting in the way of activities he loved, like snowboarding.
The cartilage that normally cushions the joint was nearly gone and pain was coming from bone grinding against bone under his own body weight.
Too young for knee replacement surgery and unable to find a commercial brace that took weight off the knee to relieve his pain, he fashioned his own. He added springs to a brace he found on eBay.
The device worked, and the entrepreneurially minded Johnson soon turned the idea into Icarus. It took just five years for Johnson’s startup — now headquartered in downtown Charlottesville — to make the Inc. 5000 list.
Virginia Business recently reported that Icarus is No. 6 among 277 Virginia companies that made the Inc. 5000 list this year.
A company news release notes that Icarus uses 3D scanning technology with an iPhone and 3D printing to customize the fit to each patient, resulting in less pain and more mobility while wearing the brace.