Mente

What Mente does

Mente, Inc. is a private Delaware-incorporated healthcare technology company that provides an RFID-based surgical instrument tracking and tray optimization platform, marketed under the name Mentelist. Its system combines proprietary hardware (Surround Tags that attach to individual surgical instruments and reader/antenna hardware placed near the surgical site) with cloud-based analytics software that processes instrument usage data to recommend optimized tray configurations, supporting the company's TAG-TRACK-TRIM workflow. The technology was developed and validated at Duke Health and is exclusively licensed worldwide from Duke University, anchoring the company's IP position.

The company primarily serves US hospitals and health systems, targeting perioperative leadership, sterile processing departments, surgeons, and surgical subspecialties including thoracic, spinal, pediatric, breast, and cranial surgery. Mente's commercial motion is enterprise field sales supplemented by an inside sales channel that funnels mid-market hospital prospects through a website contact form. Reported customer outcomes include 50% fewer instruments per tray, 25% faster OR setup, 33% less tray weight, and a claimed $100k in annual savings per OR, supported by peer-reviewed validation studies and third-party cleaning validation under ANSI/AAMI ST98 standards.

Mente's revenue model combines hardware sales or leasing of RFID tags and readers, a recurring software subscription for the Mentelist analytics platform, and professional services for implementation, staff education, and tray recommendation facilitation. The company is surgeon-founded (Dr. Patrick Codd, a practicing Duke neurosurgeon and co-inventor of the licensed technology), with CEO Wes Hill and CTO Ian Hill, PhD leading a team of 1-10 employees headquartered in Colorado Springs. To date, capital has come predominantly from non-dilutive sources, including NSF Phase I and Phase II awards and a Colorado OEDIT Advanced Industries grant.

Name

Mente

Legal name

Mente, Inc.

Website

https://mentemedical.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Mente provides RFID-based surgical instrument tracking and analytics (Mentelist) that help US hospitals reduce surgical tray size, cut sterile processing workload, and improve OR setup efficiency. It primarily serves perioperative leadership, sterile processing departments, and surgeons at hospitals and health systems.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Surgical Instrument Tracking

NAICS

Navigational, Measuring, Electromedical, and Control Instruments Manufacturing (3345), Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing (334510), Surgical and Medical Instrument Manufacturing (339112)

SIC

Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYHLAHADAG

Surgical Navigation, Tracking & Intraoperative Guidance (Ortho/Neuro/ENT)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Medical Devices & Diagnostics/Surgical Instruments, Endoscopy & OR Equipment

SECONDARYHLAHADAA

Open & Minimally Invasive Surgical Instruments (Handheld, Laparoscopic, MIS)

Healthcare & Life Sciences/Medical Devices & Diagnostics/Surgical Instruments, Endoscopy & OR Equipment

Keywords

• Surgical instrument tracking
• RFID tray optimization
• Operating room efficiency
• Perioperative analytics platform
• Sterile processing solutions

Headquarters

HQ city

Boston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. RFID Hardware (Tags and Readers): Sale or lease of RFID tags (Surround Tags) attached to surgical instruments and reader/antenna hardware. Tags are shipped to customer facility, tagged at Mente's facility, and returned. Readers are placed in OR for antenna coverage during tracked cases.
2. Software/Subscription (Mentelist): Analytics platform providing instrument usage data, tray optimization recommendations, and ongoing monitoring. Likely sold as recurring subscription with periodic data sharing to hospital stakeholders. No PHI required for tray optimization.
3. Professional Services / Consulting: Implementation and consulting services including staff education on sensor placement, tray recommendation facilitation, sterile processing team collaboration for optimized tray implementation, and ongoing support for scaling across service lines and sites.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Mente provides an RFID-based surgical instrument tracking system combining proprietary thermoplastic-encapsulated RFID tags (Surround Tags) attached to individual instruments, reader/antenna hardware positioned near the surgical site, and the Mentelist cloud analytics platform. The system automatically detects instrument usage during surgery based on proximity and produces data-driven tray optimization recommendations, enabling hospitals to reduce instrument counts, cut sterile processing workload, and accelerate OR setup.

Product overview

Mente offers Mentelist, a unified data-driven surgical instrument tray optimization platform that combines RFID hardware (Surround Tags and upcoming Forever Tags) with analytics software. The three-step process—TAG, TRACK, and TRIM—enables hospitals to attach RFID tags to instruments, automatically track usage during surgery based on proximity to the surgical site, and use the resulting data to optimize trays. The platform is designed for healthcare systems looking to reduce sterile processing workload, cut costs, and improve OR efficiency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mentelist: The company's primary software platform for data-driven surgical instrument tray optimization powered by RFID tracking. Mentelist provides instrument usage data to help hospitals streamline trays, reduce sterile processing burden, and improve OR setup efficiency.

Products and services

• Mentelist Cloud-based analytics platform for surgical instrument tray optimization that processes RFID-captured intraoperative instrument usage data to generate tray configuration recommendations, enable customization-to-optimization-to-standardization workflows, and provide evidence-based decisions for hospital OR and sterile processing teams.
• Surround Tag RFID tag with thermoplastic encapsulation that fully wraps individual surgical instruments in at least one axis, designed to survive thousands of autoclave sterilization cycles and provide multi-foot read range for intraoperative tracking. Multiple tag shapes fit varying instrument geometries, and failure modes are visible during sterile processing.
• RFID Reader/Antenna Hardware Reader/antenna hardware positioned within twelve inches of the surgical site but outside the sterile field, enabling automatic detection of RFID-tagged instruments in real time without manual scanning or line-of-sight requirements.
• Implementation and Consulting Services Professional services including instrument tagging at Mente's facility, staff education on sensor placement, facilitation of tray optimization recommendations, sterile processing team collaboration, and ongoing support for scaling across service lines and sites.

Quantifiable outcome

• 50% fewer instruments per tray
• +8 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature7 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Duke University / Duke Office of Translation & CommercializationcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 24 May 2020Mente licensed Duke-developed RFID technology with an exclusive, worldwide license for key patent application, software, and data. Technology was developed and validated at Duke Health. The partnership supports Mente's mission to help hospitals reduce OR waste by understanding instrument usage at a detail level previously impossible to capture reliably. Duke's Director of New Ventures expressed strong support for Mente's commercialization approach.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Censis Technologies: Censis is the leading provider of surgical instrument tracking and asset management software for sterile processing departments, directly competing with Mente in tray-level visibility and tray optimization for hospitals. Their flagship platforms (e.g., Censitrac) overlap with Mente's intraoperative usage and tray-management value proposition.
• Haldor Advanced Technologies: Haldor provides RFID-based tracking solutions for surgical instruments and sponges, with a focus on intraoperative counting and sterile processing workflows. Comparable to Mente's RFID-tag-based instrument tracking and tray optimization offering.
• TrackCore: TrackCore (acquired by BD) specializes in RFID and barcode-based surgical instrument and tissue tracking, directly addressing the same sterile processing and OR workflows as Mente. Its integration into BD amplifies competitive intensity against smaller entrants like Mente.

Broad incumbents

• STERIS: STERIS is a major provider of sterilization, infection prevention, and surgical instrument management solutions, including instrument tracking offerings sold into the same sterile processing and OR customers as Mente. A large incumbent with established health system relationships.
• Aesculap (B. Braun): Aesculap, part of B. Braun, manufactures surgical instruments and offers instrument management and sterilization solutions. Competes broadly in the surgical instrument lifecycle space that Mente addresses through RFID-based tracking.
• Getinge: Getinge provides infection control, surgical workflows, and sterilization equipment, with instrument tracking and OR efficiency offerings that overlap with Mente's tray optimization value proposition. A broad incumbent with global hospital reach.
• BD (Becton Dickinson): BD is a broad medical technology incumbent that acquired TrackCore and competes in surgical instrument tracking and OR workflow solutions. Represents a scaled competitor with the resources to extend intraoperative analytics if it chooses.

Emerging players

• Xerafy: Xerafy manufactures rugged RFID tags for healthcare and industrial applications, including surgical instrument tracking. Relevant as a potential tag-supply competitor or partner for Mente's Surround Tag-based system.
• Terso Solutions: Terso Solutions provides RFID-based inventory and asset tracking platforms for healthcare and life sciences, including medical device and surgical supply visibility. Adjacent competitor in the RFID-for-healthcare space.

Others

• Vizient: Vizient is a healthcare performance improvement and group purchasing organization that advises hospitals on supply chain and OR efficiency. Adjacent player that influences purchasing decisions relevant to Mente's tray optimization sales motion.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/mentemedical

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Mente