Platform has processed orders since September 2025 for surgery centers and hospitals across five states; James A. Casavant, a 20-year veteran of healthcare supply chain software, joins as Chief Technology Officer
AlloDirect Announces Pre-Seed Round Led by M25 to Build the Ordering Layer for Tissue & Biologics
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AlloDirectangel investorspre-seed roundM25James A. CasavantChief Technology Officer
September 25, 2026Valparaiso, Indiana
AlloDirect, the direct sourcing platform for human tissue, today announced a pre-seed round led by Chicago-based M25, with participation from angel investors. The company also announced that James A. Casavant has joined as Chief Technology Officer. AlloDirect has been live in production since September 2025, processing orders for surgery centers and hospitals in Pennsylvania, Indiana, Texas, Oklahoma and Florida.
AlloDirect is the ordering layer for human tissue. Facilities search one catalog of more than 24,000 allografts from six AATB-accredited tissue banks, place the order in one workflow, and receive lot and UDI documentation captured at the point of order rather than reconstructed afterward. Orders route directly to the originating tissue bank for fulfillment. When a surgeon needs a graft that is not in the catalog, the facility requests it and AlloDirect coordinates sourcing and delivery.
Unlike most device distribution, where intermediaries hold inventory and manage instrument trays, allograft tissue ships from the tissue bank to the facility. The layers in between are not in that path. What they carry is information, and they carry it slowly: a facility asking what is available today can wait days for an answer, one supplier at a time. The tracking and compliance systems facilities already own start after that. They record what was implanted. None of them decide where the order goes.
The gap runs both ways. Tissue banks recover and process against forecasts, then distribute into a channel that returns little information about what facilities need or when. Every graft that goes unused is a donor's gift that did not reach a patient. AlloDirect connects banks directly to the facilities buying from them and gives them visibility into real demand, so recovery and processing can be planned against what facilities actually need.
The timing follows a shift in where surgery happens. In its CY 2026 payment rule, CMS added more than 500 procedures to the ASC covered procedures list and began a three-year phase-out of the inpatient-only list, starting with 285 largely musculoskeletal procedures. More of the surgery that uses allograft tissue is moving to outpatient settings, which have the least procurement infrastructure of anyone in the chain.
“Every handoff between the tissue bank and the operating room adds time and cost, and none of them add anything to the graft,” said Rhett Barker, CEO of AlloDirect. “I spent six years as one of those handoffs. AlloDirect takes them out and gives the facility one place to buy from every supplier they already use.”
Barker spent six years in orthopedic sales at Zimmer Biomet, in the operating room every week. His first company, Flipside Solutions, was acquired in 2021.
Casavant was the founding Chief Technology Officer of the leading SaaS company providing a tissue and implant tracking platform to hospitals, and has built numerous integrations across the entire healthcare space.
“The hard part of this category is the data,” said Casavant. “Well-structured data, like item catalogs across every tissue bank with the documentation attached when the order is placed, and a robust yet easy-to-implement data integration system are what make everything downstream simpler. That is what we are building.”
The round funds continued platform development and the company's first hires. AlloDirect's advisory bench includes practicing orthopedic, foot and ankle, and pain management physicians, along with senior medical device operators.
“We look for founders who understand the structure of their industry, not just the surface of it. Rhett spent six years inside this supply chain and came out knowing exactly which part of it does not need to exist,” said Victor Gutwein, Managing Partner at M25. “AlloDirect is grafting software onto a category that has never had any, and the people who benefit are the facilities buying and the patients receiving.”
About AlloDirect
AlloDirect is a direct sourcing platform connecting AATB-accredited tissue banks with surgery centers, hospitals and health systems. The platform gives facilities a single catalog across suppliers, a single ordering workflow, and lot and UDI documentation captured at the point of order. AlloDirect is headquartered in Valparaiso, Indiana. For more information, visit allo.direct.
About M25
M25 is an early-stage software-focused venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in tech startups headquartered in the Midwest. Since launching in 2015, M25 has become the most active investor in the region, quickly becoming the preferred seed investor for the next generation of Midwest unicorns. Portfolio companies include Kin Insurance, Loop Returns, Astronomer, Branch Pay, Authenticx, Redi Health and more. For more information, please visit m25vc.com.
Media contact
Michelle Fitzsimons
AlloDirect
info@allo.direct
Author
TH
TJ Halvorson
The De Angelis Group | Orthopedics This Week | MSK Innovations
Why This Matters
Two Perspectives
MBA Lens: Economic and industry impact
AlloDirect secured pre-seed funding to streamline human tissue procurement, addressing inefficiencies in the traditional supply chain. The platform offers a single catalog and ordering workflow for facilities, connecting them directly to tissue banks. This strategy capitalizes on CMS shifts moving more musculoskeletal procedures to outpatient settings, which lack robust procurement infrastructure. By eliminating intermediaries, AlloDirect aims to reduce costs and improve demand visibility for tissue banks.
- The company's direct sourcing model disrupts traditional tissue distribution by removing costly, slow information "handoffs."
- CMS payment rule changes, particularly the shift to outpatient surgery, create a significant market opportunity for AlloDirect's platform.
PhD Lens: Clinical and outcomes impact
AlloDirect's platform facilitates direct sourcing of human allograft tissue from AATB-accredited banks for surgical facilities. It centralizes over 24,000 allografts into one catalog, simplifying ordering and ensuring lot and UDI documentation is captured at the point of order. This system aims to improve the efficiency of graft delivery and reduce unused tissue, thereby maximizing the impact of donor gifts by better matching supply with facility demand.
- The platform's core mechanism is a unified digital catalog and ordering system for human allograft tissue.
- It enhances traceability and compliance by capturing lot and UDI data at the initial order placement, rather than post-implantation.
React:
Discussion
This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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