Brain Surgery’s Billion-Dollar Woman

Nora Nseir, the founder and co-CEO of Nurami Medical, knows that the Haifa-based biomed company’s groundbreaking product may not seem particularly impressive at first glance. It looks like a plain white bandage, just 5 cm in width and length, but if everything goes according to plan, it could fundamentally change the way doctors treat brain and spinal cord injuries. The product’s ability to regenerate meningeal tissue after complex neurological surgeries sets it apart. So far, $16 million has been invested in Nurami, and the company is now completing another funding round—this time for $30 million. There is still a long road ahead, but the market in which the company operates is so vast that if the product succeeds, Nurami could reach a valuation in the billions of dollars.

Nseir, who holds a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering and a master’s degree in biomechanical engineering from the Technion, founded Nurami with her partner, Dr. Amir Bahar. The two met in 2011 while working together on developing a hemostatic agent for Bioline. “Amir has a doctorate from the Weizmann Institute and had just returned to Israel after seven years at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York,” she says. “We worked on the project together, but at some point, Bioline discontinued it due to shifting priorities and cost-cutting. We thought our paths would diverge, but then we decided to start something of our own. Academia moved at too slow a pace for me—I’m a results-driven person. Amir and I have great chemistry at work, so I felt that launching a startup together would help me fulfill my dream.”