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24 n e w h a v e n B I Z | S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP A 'unicorn' flies high once again as Jonathan Rothberg's revolutionary ultrasound device meets the marketplace On the Wings of Love By Michael C. Bingham J onathan Rothberg's newest company, Butterfly Network, is headquartered in Guilford, where he lives with his wife, Bonnie and their children. But the company's address doesn't really matter much; Jonathan Rothberg's workplace is the world. at's because he is a man on a mission. at mission? "To democratize health care by making medical imaging accessible to everyone around the world." And he has just the tool to do it: Butterfly iQ, a handheld ultrasound device that holds the potential to revolutionize diagnostic disease- prevention by placing it in the hands of the 15 million physicians around the globe. Many scientists have sought to reduce the size and expense of ultrasound diagnostic machines, which were room-sized and had a six-figure pricetag. But until recently all were pursuing what Rothberg likens to Henry Ford having invented a robotic horse — instead of pioneering an entirely new, mechanical conveyance that would change the course of human history. e key element that made Butterfly iQ practical and preg- nant with commercial promise was a new type of sensor. In place of piezoelectric crystals that do the heavy liing in conventional ultrasound imaging by projecting sound waves into the body, Butter- fly iQ uses thousands of micro- scopic metal drums fitted onto a chip the size of a postage stamp. It then displays them as 2D images on the screen of a smartphone or other mobile device. Rothberg's device — and his remarkable track record of innovation and company- building, has already attracted some $360 million in investment. Today, the Butterfly iQ device has been approved for use in the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand in addition to domestically. at dizzying deployment trajectory Rothberg calls "blitz- scaling." Butterfly already has four offices around the globe and Rothberg was in Europe last month opening two more offices. "We're literally opening a new country every 15 days," he says. And all eyes are on an even bigger prize: "We hope to be launching in China next year," he In 2016 Jonathan Rothberg was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by President Barack Obama for his 'pioneering inventions and commercialization of next-generation DNA sequencing technologies.' Now his Butterfly Network is pioneering handheld ultrasound technology.

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