Orthopedics maker TJO raises $11M in debt from Wells Fargo
What's the deal? Total Joint Orthopedics (TJO), a Salt Lake City medical device company focused on simplifying joint replacement, has secured a debt financing facility of up to $11 million from Wells Fargo. The capital will fund expanded implant inventory, broader sales coverage, and development of its next-generation implant pipeline.
Why debt? TJO says its management and board weighed equity, strategic partnerships, and debt before settling on the latter. It concluded debt was the most efficient way to fund growth while preserving its ownership structure, then expanded its existing banking relationship with Wells Fargo.
What's the endgame? TJO plans to deploy the money across several priorities: scaling inventory for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), adding distribution partners, and advancing its Aurum technology, which aims to eliminate cobalt chrome from orthopedic implants. It is also developing a next-generation hip stem and expanding additive manufacturing to shorten lead times.
The traction: The company has surpassed 55,000 implants placed nationwide, including more than 42,000 Klassic Knee implants. Notably, 32% of its 2026 procedures year-to-date were performed in ASCs.
Why now? Joint replacements are increasingly moving into ASCs, pushing implant makers to invest in commercial reach and ASC-focused offerings. TJO's ASC procedure share signals it is positioning for that shift.
"TJO's approach has always started in the operating room," said Christopher E. Pelt, a professor of orthopaedics at the University of Utah. He said fewer instrument trays and a streamlined workflow let his team "focus on the patient instead of the setup."
The signal: At $11 million, TJO's facility sits in the smaller tier of medtech financings — a comparable recent move, THINK Surgical's July facility of up to $65 million for its knee-replacement robot, dwarfs it. But the deal shows capital still flowing to smaller joint-replacement firms betting on the ASC transition and materials innovation.
Read more: bis.einnews.com
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