Pilgrim Creates Gauze That Heals Wounds

Jake Adler, the 21-year-old founder of biotech and defense startup Pilgrim, cut his leg open on camera to show off his wound-healing gauze, Kingsfoil.

The Big Cut: Founders using their bodies as test subjects has ramped up in recent years, especially in the world of biotech, with figures like Bryan Johnson and Josie Zayner leading the charge. The practice comes with complex ethical considerations… but it’s also become a symbol of the “hardcore” work ethic currently celebrated in Silicon Valley.

Behind The Slice: Adler really wanted to show that he had full faith in his invention.

• In the video described by Insider, he numbed his legs with lidocaine and used a punch biopsy tool to cut “two scientifically precise wounds” on his thighs.
• He then put his clay-based hemostatic dressing, Kingsfoil, on one of his legs, which “morphs into a gel-like consistency [and] can help seal wounds, clot blood flow, and aid in healing.” The other wound was staunched using traditional gauze.
• The Kingsfoil stopped the bleeding quickly, while the other… eventually stopped — because if it hadn’t, this story probably wouldn’t have ended with VC funding and FDA applications.

Last Wrap: Despite the existence of other hemostatic competitors, Adler’s stunt landed the California-based Pilgrim $4.3 million in seed funding in a round led by Cantos and Refractor. Ian Rountree, the founder of Cantos, said, “Maybe Jake took ‘blood, sweat, and tears’ a little too literally, but we co-led his pre-seed round […] because of that intoxicating mix of intensity and a space sorely in need of innovation.”

Military applications are becoming the hottest sector in tech, so Kingsfoil is initially focused on serving the defense industry. And to demonstrate its commitment to current Silicon Valley culture, Pilgrim is squarely following the trends of other successful startups in the military space, including naming Kingsfoil after an item from The Lord of the Rings (see: Anduril, Palantir, and Erebor). 

Prediction: Even though Kingsfoil is aimed at serving the battlefield, it may only be a matter of time before it finds a way into every civilian first-aid kit.