Phantom GI
Developing PercStoma, a minimally invasive ostomy system for patients with bowel obstruction.
Cover Block
Public sources
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Phantom GI |
| Tagline | Developing PercStoma, a minimally invasive ostomy system for patients with bowel obstruction. |
| Headquarters | Tel Aviv, Israel [Crunchbase] |
| Founded | 2025 [Crunchbase] |
| Stage | Seed [Crunchbase] |
| Business Model | Hardware + Software |
| Industry | Healthtech |
| Technology | Biotech / Life Sciences |
| Geography | Middle East / North Africa |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (3+): Ido Sadan, Dr. Eran Shlomovitz, Dr. Eliahu Bekhor [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] |
| Funding Label | Seed |
| Total Disclosed Funding | Approximately $5,000,000, based on the October 2026 seed round led by Pitango HealthTech [Finsmes, October 2026] |
Links
Public sources
- Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/phantom-gi
- Startup Nation Central: https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/company_page/phantom-gi
Executive Summary
PUBLIC Phantom GI is an Israeli medical-device startup developing PercStoma, an investigational minimally invasive ostomy system for bowel-obstruction patients who are too ill for conventional abdominal surgery, and it merits investor attention now because it has just raised a seed round to move from concept-stage promise into first U.S. clinical studies [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026]. Founded in 2025 and based in Tel Aviv, the company traces the product concept to co-founder Dr. Eran Shlomovitz’s treatment of a patient with malignant bowel obstruction in 2023, a clinically specific origin that fits the company’s narrow initial wedge [Startup Nation Central] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026].
PercStoma is described in public coverage as a single-puncture, X-ray-guided system performed under local anesthesia and designed to divert bowel contents into a standard ostomy bag in roughly 20 minutes, which, if borne out in trials, would distinguish it from more invasive surgical ostomy approaches on procedural burden rather than software workflow alone [Ynet News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026]. That said, the device remained investigational and had not received regulatory approval as of October 2026, so the near-term case rests on evidence generation rather than commercial traction [N24, October 2026] [GS MedTech, October 2026].
The founding team combines an operating CEO, Ido Sadan, with medical co-founders Dr. Shlomovitz and Dr. Eliahu Bekhor; public reporting consistently identifies those roles, while the most relevant externally visible domain depth appears to sit with Shlomovitz’s interventional radiology and surgery background [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026]. On the financing side, Phantom GI announced a $5 million seed round in October 2026 led by Pitango HealthTech, with participation from RAD Biomed and RUNI Ventures, and Startup Nation Central also lists the Israel Innovation Authority among its backers [Finsmes, October 2026] [Citybiz, October 2026] [Startup Nation Central].
The business model is best understood today as hardware plus procedure-enabling technology aimed at hospital and physician use, though public sources do not yet establish reimbursement, pricing, or named clinical-site partnerships [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Ynet News, October 2026]. Over the next 12 to 18 months, the central questions are straightforward: whether Phantom GI can initiate and complete early U.S. clinical work on schedule, demonstrate a safety profile strong enough to support broader efficacy claims, and translate a compelling emergency-use concept into a repeatable regulatory and adoption pathway [Finsmes, October 2026] [N24, October 2026].
Lightly corroborated -- Core company, product, and financing facts are corroborated by multiple public funding reports and company databases, but several operating details remain dependent on announcement-era coverage and company-supplied framing.
Taxonomy Snapshot
| Axis | Value |
|---|---|
| Stage | Seed |
| Business Model | Hardware + Software |
| Industry / Vertical | Healthtech |
| Technology Type | Biotech / Life Sciences |
| Geography | Middle East / North Africa |
| Growth Profile | Venture Scale |
| Founding Team | Co-Founders (3+) |
| Funding | Seed, total disclosed ~$5,000,000 |
How the Company Got Here
PUBLIC
Phantom GI enters the record as a very early Israeli medical-device company, with public sources anchoring only a small set of basics so far. Crunchbase lists the company as Phantom GI, founded in 2025 and based in Tel Aviv, Israel, while Startup Nation Central also identifies it as an Israeli health-tech company focused on PercStoma, a minimally invasive ostomy system [Crunchbase] [Startup Nation Central].
The founding bench named in public databases is Ido Sadan, Dr. Eran Shlomovitz, and Dr. Eliahu Bekhor [Crunchbase] [Startup Nation Central]. Public chronology remains short: the company appears to have been founded in 2025, then surfaced more broadly with a disclosed $5 million seed financing in October 2026 [Crunchbase]. No state filing or legal-entity detail was surfaced in the cited public records used for this section, so the overview is best read as a first snapshot rather than a complete corporate history [Crunchbase] [Startup Nation Central].
Lightly corroborated -- Confirmed by Crunchbase and Startup Nation Central, but legal-entity detail and fuller milestone history were not corroborated in the cited sources.
Product and Technology
MIXED
The product claim is straightforward, and the evidence is still early. Phantom GI is developing PercStoma, an investigational ostomy system intended for patients with bowel obstruction who are too ill to undergo conventional abdominal surgery, according to multiple October 2026 funding reports and follow-on coverage [Haaretz, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Ynet News, October 2026]. Public descriptions present the device as a percutaneous alternative to open ostomy creation, with bowel contents diverted into a standard ostomy bag through a single needle puncture under local anesthesia and X-ray guidance [Ynet News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026].
The procedural positioning is specific enough to matter. Reported coverage says the procedure is designed to take roughly 20 minutes, which, if borne out in clinical use, would place PercStoma as a lower-intensity intervention for a narrow but clinically significant patient group rather than a broad replacement for standard surgery [Ynet News, October 2026] [Tech Funding News, October 2026]. That said, the current public record does not establish performance data, named clinical partners, or real-world outcomes, and one report explicitly states the device had not received regulatory approval as of October 2026 [N24, October 2026].
The technical and regulatory status remains the central constraint on interpretation. Available reporting indicates Phantom GI is preparing the first phase of U.S. clinical studies to evaluate safety and efficacy in patients unsuitable for traditional surgical options [Finsmes, October 2026] [Tech Funding News, October 2026]. The company has also described PercStoma as a potential platform for additional ostomy indications, but that framing appears to be company positioning rather than independently validated expansion evidence [Tech Funding News, October 2026].
Lightly corroborated -- Product descriptions are corroborated across multiple October 2026 news reports, but regulatory status and future platform claims rely partly on company-sourced coverage.
Where the Demand Sits
PUBLIC
This market matters now because Phantom GI is aiming at a narrow but clinically acute gap inside bowel-obstruction care, a setting where patients can deteriorate quickly and the standard surgical pathway is not always tolerable [Ynet News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026].
The public evidence supports real disease burden, but it does not yet support a clean venture-style TAM stack for Phantom GI specifically. Available third-party figures describe adjacent clinical volumes rather than a verified company-specific addressable market. One cited source says mechanical intestinal obstruction is diagnosed annually in more than 300,000 cases admitted to emergency services in the United States [Tech Funding News, October 2026]. A separate source cited in the research places annual U.S. admissions for small bowel obstruction at roughly 225,000 to 345,000 patients [Tech Funding News, October 2026]. By contrast, the "$2.5 billion market" figure appears in a company-directory profile rather than an independent market study, so it is better read as a company-framed market claim than as a validated TAM benchmark [Startup Nation Central].
The practical demand driver is not volume alone, but the subset of patients who are poor candidates for conventional abdominal surgery. Public coverage consistently describes PercStoma as intended for bowel-obstruction patients who are too ill for major surgery, with a procedure designed around a single needle puncture, local anesthesia, and X-ray guidance [Ynet News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026]. That framing matters because the economic value proposition, if clinical data supports it, would likely come from reducing procedural intensity in high-risk patients rather than replacing all ostomy creation. The nearer comparable market is therefore interventional, palliative, and acute-care GI management, not the entire ostomy or general-surgery market.
Adjacent and substitute pathways are clearer than the company's standalone market size. Today, the relevant alternatives appear to be conventional abdominal surgery, supportive management, and in some cases stenting or other image-guided interventions, depending on obstruction type and patient condition [Ynet News, October 2026] [Haaretz, October 2026]. The research notes also tie co-founder Dr. Eran Shlomovitz's prior clinical work to malignant bowel obstruction and colorectal stenting, which reinforces that Phantom GI is entering a pathway where physicians already use less invasive bridge or palliation techniques when surgery is unattractive [Haaretz, October 2026]. That suggests adoption, if it comes, will be decided less by abstract market size and more by whether PercStoma fits existing interventional workflows and improves outcomes in a defined patient subset.
Regulation is the main gating factor, and it compresses near-term market visibility. As of October 2026, public reporting described PercStoma as investigational and not yet regulator-approved, with the company preparing its first phase of U.S. clinical studies [N24, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026]. In practice, that means present demand should be understood as clinical interest contingent on evidence, not as commercial demand already in hand. The macro tailwind is that health systems continue to look for less invasive procedures that can reduce operative burden and expand treatment options for fragile patients, but for Phantom GI that thesis still has to pass through safety, efficacy, and regulatory review before it becomes a revenue market rather than a clinical hypothesis [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Ynet News, October 2026].
| Sizing claim | Figure | Scope | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mechanical intestinal obstruction cases admitted annually | 300,000+ | United States, annual cases | [Tech Funding News, October 2026] |
| Small bowel obstruction admissions annually | 225,000 to 345,000 | United States, annual admissions | [Tech Funding News, October 2026] |
| Claimed market size | $2.5 billion | Company-directory market claim | [Startup Nation Central] |
The table is useful mainly as a boundary marker. Public sources support a sizable underlying disease burden, but the only explicit dollar market figure in the record is company-adjacent and should not be treated as independently verified TAM.
Company-stated, unverified -- Disease-burden context is supported by named public coverage, but the section's only explicit market-size dollar figure is a company-directory claim rather than independent third-party market research.
Competitive Landscape
Market structure
MIXED Phantom GI is not competing in a crowded startup field so much as it is trying to displace an entrenched clinical pathway, namely surgical ostomy creation for bowel-obstruction patients who are poor candidates for major abdominal surgery [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Ynet News, October 2026].
That distinction matters because the nearest alternatives named in public coverage are not venture-backed peers but incumbent care approaches: conventional open or laparoscopic ostomy surgery, nonoperative decompression and supportive care, and in some cases colorectal stenting for selected obstruction cases [Ynet News, October 2026] [Haaretz, October 2026]. Public reporting describes PercStoma as an investigational percutaneous ostomy system intended for patients too ill to undergo conventional surgery, using a single needle puncture, local anesthesia, and X-ray guidance [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Ynet News, October 2026] [N24, October 2026]. In practice, that places the company in a narrow but clinically meaningful wedge between surgery and palliative management, with interventional radiology and surgery workflows both relevant to adoption [Haaretz, October 2026].
A second layer of competition comes from established medtech tools rather than branded company rivals. If hospitals can address obstruction through existing stents, drains, operative diversion, or supportive inpatient management, an investigational device has to prove not only technical feasibility but workflow fit, physician training requirements, and a safety profile strong enough to change referral behavior [Haaretz, October 2026] [N24, October 2026]. Because no named startup competitors were confirmed in the source set, the current landscape reads less like a software category race and more like a campaign to insert a new procedure into an already conservative standard of care.
Edge and durability
MIXED Phantom GI's clearest edge today is procedural positioning rather than scale. The company's public case is that PercStoma could create an ostomy in roughly 20 minutes under local anesthesia, which, if reproduced in clinical studies, would offer a materially different option for frail bowel-obstruction patients who cannot tolerate conventional surgery [Ynet News, October 2026] [Tech Funding News, October 2026]. That claim is commercially relevant because a device that expands treatability for an otherwise hard-to-manage cohort can win attention even before it has broad category breadth.
The founding configuration also appears directionally supportive. Public sources identify Ido Sadan as CEO and Dr. Eran Shlomovitz and Dr. Eliahu Bekhor as co-founders, with Shlomovitz tied in reporting to the originating clinical insight behind the product and described elsewhere as having interventional radiology and surgical expertise [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Haaretz, October 2026]. For an early medical-device company, that clinician-founder linkage can help in protocol design, key-opinion-leader access, and procedural credibility. Still, the edge is perishable until backed by trial data, regulatory progress, and named clinical sites. At this stage, the company does not appear to own a distribution channel, installed base, or publicly documented outcomes dataset that would make the lead self-reinforcing [N24, October 2026] [Crunchbase].
Exposure points
MIXED The largest competitive exposure is that incumbent surgery already owns the referral pathway. Surgeons, hospital committees, and reimbursement systems understand conventional ostomy creation, even when it is invasive, while Phantom GI still needs to validate an investigational technique and earn regulatory clearance before it can compete on equal footing [N24, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026]. In other words, the company is trying to replace a known procedure with a new one in a high-risk patient population, which raises the evidence bar.
A related exposure is that adjacent substitutes may handle part of the same clinical problem without requiring a new dedicated platform. Public research around Dr. Shlomovitz's prior work references colorectal stenting for malignant large bowel obstruction and research on inoperable malignant bowel obstruction, which underscores that physicians already use multiple intervention pathways depending on anatomy and patient condition [Haaretz, October 2026]. That does not negate Phantom GI's thesis, but it does mean the company may be strongest in a subset of cases rather than across all bowel-obstruction presentations. The more narrowly the indication is defined during early studies, the smaller the immediate competitive field, but the narrower the initial commercial footprint as well.
Eighteen-month scenario
MIXED The most plausible competitive scenario over the next 18 months is that the market remains defined by evidence generation rather than share capture. If Phantom GI successfully initiates its first U.S. clinical studies and produces an early safety signal consistent with the minimally invasive thesis described in public coverage, Phantom GI is the likely winner under that scenario because no named startup rival has surfaced in the available sources and the comparison set is mainly incumbent care pathways [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026]. If, instead, trial initiation slips or early evidence fails to show a clear procedural advantage, conventional surgical ostomy remains the practical winner by default because it already has clinician familiarity, hospital adoption, and established decision pathways [Ynet News, October 2026] [N24, October 2026].
The likely loser if execution falters is not a named startup competitor but the category claim that percutaneous ostomy can become a standard option for these patients. That is an important distinction for investors. Competitive pressure here is less about a rival out-marketing the company and more about whether the current standard of care proves hard to dislodge without unusually strong clinical evidence.
Lightly corroborated -- Section relies on named public publishers for Phantom GI's positioning and status, but no named direct startup competitors were confirmed in the available public sources, so competitive mapping is partly inferential from incumbent treatment alternatives.
Opportunity
PUBLIC
If Phantom GI can show that a 20-minute, image-guided alternative to conventional ostomy creation is both safe and clinically useful, the upside is not a niche device win but a new interventional pathway for some of the sickest bowel-obstruction patients treated in hospitals today [Ynet News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026].
The headline opportunity is straightforward: become the first scaled company to establish percutaneous ostomy creation as a viable option for patients who are too ill for conventional abdominal surgery. That outcome is still early, because PercStoma remained investigational and had not received regulatory approval as of October 2026 [N24, October 2026]. Still, the wedge is credible rather than purely aspirational. Multiple reports describe the same core proposition, a single needle puncture under local anesthesia and X-ray guidance, aimed at bowel-obstruction patients who cannot tolerate major surgery, and the company has already raised a $5 million seed round led by Pitango HealthTech to fund product development and the first phase of U.S. clinical studies [Ynet News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026].
The scale case rests on more than one version of the market. Published figures point to a large U.S. acute-care burden, with more than 300,000 emergency-service admissions annually for mechanical intestinal obstruction and an estimated 225,000 to 345,000 annual admissions for small bowel obstruction in the U.S. [Haaretz, October 2026]. If Phantom GI can demonstrate that at least a subset of these patients can be treated with a less invasive drainage or diversion approach, the company could expand from an initial rescue-use indication into a broader interventional toolkit around ostomy-related care. That broader platform ambition is still a company view, not an observed market outcome, so it should be treated cautiously [Tech Funding News, October 2026].
| Scenario | What happens | Catalyst | Why it's plausible |
|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. clinical wedge | PercStoma clears early clinical hurdles in the United States and becomes a recognized option for inoperable bowel-obstruction patients at selected hospital centers | Initial U.S. safety and efficacy studies generate sufficiently clear data to support further regulatory progress and site adoption [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [N24, October 2026] | The company is already preparing its first phase of U.S. clinical studies, and the product is aimed at a defined patient group with limited conventional options [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Ynet News, October 2026] |
| Interventional radiology workflow adoption | The procedure is adopted through hospital interventional teams as a faster, lower-burden alternative for eligible patients, creating repeat procedural volume | Positive physician experience with a roughly 20-minute, local-anesthesia workflow under X-ray guidance [Ynet News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] | The product concept fits an image-guided, minimally invasive workflow rather than a full open-surgery pathway, and co-founder Dr. Eran Shlomovitz has an interventional radiology and surgery background relevant to that adoption path [Haaretz, October 2026] |
| Platform expansion beyond the first indication | After proving the core device in one high-need setting, Phantom GI extends the same procedural approach into adjacent ostomy indications | Clinical proof in the initial bowel-obstruction use case supports follow-on development for additional ostomy applications [Tech Funding News, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] | Public reporting says the company views PercStoma as a potential platform technology for various ostomy indications, although this remains a company-led thesis until data emerge [Tech Funding News, October 2026] |
What compounding looks like here is procedural rather than consumer-network driven. One successful indication could create a flywheel across physician training, hospital protocol inclusion, and evidence generation: each treated site adds operator familiarity, each clinical dataset improves the case for broader use, and each additional indication would reuse much of the same image-guided workflow. There is no public evidence yet of that flywheel operating in the field, but the ingredients are visible in the current plan, namely a defined high-acuity wedge, a workflow framed around local anesthesia and X-ray guidance, and seed capital earmarked for U.S. studies rather than broad commercial sprawl [Calcalist Tech, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026].
The size of the win is best framed against the category rather than current company scale. Startup Nation Central lists Phantom GI against a $2.5 billion market, though that figure should be treated as directional because it is not independently unpacked in the cited material [Startup Nation Central]. If Phantom GI were to secure a defensible share of a multibillion-dollar procedural market by becoming a standard option for high-risk bowel-obstruction cases and then broadening into adjacent ostomy indications, the outcome could support a venture-scale medical-device company worth hundreds of millions of dollars to low billions (scenario, not a forecast). That upside remains highly conditional on clinical evidence and regulatory progress, but the clinical problem appears real, the proposed intervention is specific, and the first financing round is consistent with a company moving from concept toward formal proof [N24, October 2026] [Finsmes, October 2026] [Calcalist Tech, October 2026].
Lightly corroborated -- Relies on named public reporting from Calcalist Tech, Ynet News, Finsmes, N24, Haaretz, and Startup Nation Central, with several core opportunity claims still dependent on investigational-stage company framing rather than independent clinical results.
Sources
Public sources
[Crunchbase] Phantom GI - Crunchbase Company Profile & Funding | https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/phantom-gi
[Calcalist Tech, October 2026] Israeli startup raises $5 million to rethink one of surgery's most invasive procedures | CTech | https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/skjuvwsoge
[Finsmes, October 2026] Phantom GI Raises $5M in Seed Funding | https://www.finsmes.com/2026/10/phantom-gi-raises-5m-in-seed-funding.html
[Startup Nation Central] Phantom GI | Health Tech & Life Sciences | Finder | https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/company_page/phantom-gi
[Ynet News, October 2026] Israeli startup develops 20-minute procedure for patients too sick for surgery | https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/skp0ob8izl
[N24, October 2026] Phantom GI Raises $5M to Transform Ostomy Surgery | https://www.n24.com/tech/phantom-gi-raises-5m-to-transform-ostomy-surgery/
[Haaretz, October 2026] Israeli Startup Developing Minimally Invasive Alternative to Bowel Surgery - Science & Health | https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/2026-10-08/ty-article/israeli-startup-developing-minimally-invasive-alternative-to-bowel-surgery/000001a1-1bf5-d3ad-a3b7-bffd3f240000
[Tech Funding News, October 2026] Phantom GI raises $5M to turn ostomy surgery into a 20-minute needle procedure. Here's its pitch deck | TFN | https://techfundingnews.com/phantom-gi-raises-5m-seed-pitango-minimally-invasive-ostomy-percstoma/
[Citybiz, October 2026] Phantom GI Raises $5 Million to Develop Minimally Invasive Ostomy Device | https://www.citybiz.co/article/661159/phantom-gi-raises-5-million-to-develop-minimally-invasive-ostomy-device/
[GS MedTech, October 2026] GS MedTech Funding Tracker - MMI, Zenflow, and more | https://www.gsmedtech.com/GS-MedTech-Funding-Tracker-MMI-Zenflow-and-more_a319.html
Articles about Phantom GI
- A 20-Minute Needle Procedure Could Rethink Emergency Bowel Surgery — The Israeli startup’s PercStoma device, designed for inoperable bowel obstructions, is preparing for its first U.S. clinical studies.