Stephen Pankratz

Greater Toronto Area, ON

Entrepreneur, Medical, Product Development

Stephen Pankratz is a Canadian entrepreneur and medical product developer. He is likely best known as the founder and president of Upseat, a company that manufactures and distributes its own specially designed ergonomic baby chairs that support healthy posture and hip development. Based in the Greater Toronto area, Pankratz was inspired to create Upseat by his son Jack, who was born with cerebral palsy. When he couldn’t find a seat that provided proper support for Jack’s unique physical needs, he made up his mind to build one himself. Drawing on his background in biotechnology and experience in the medical device field, Pankratz eventually created a product that earned praise from healthcare professionals and parents alike. Upseat later gained national attention in Canada after Stephen Pankratz and his wife, Kim Kucher, successfully pitched Upseat on CBC’s Dragons’ Den.

Early life

Stephen Pankratz grew up in Southern Ontario and attended Niagara District Secondary School, graduating in 2001. He then went on to study Life Sciences at Queen’s University, following that up by earning a Master of Biotechnology degree at the University of Toronto, which he completed in 2007.

Career

After concluding his formal education, Stephen Pankratz began his career at Amgen, a biotech research company headquartered in California, where he served as Senior Contracts and Budgets Associate from 2007 to 2009. There, he negotiated agreements such as clinical trials and drug registries on behalf of the company with third parties. He later joined Canadian Hospital Specialties Ltd., where, among his other duties, he helped launch surgical and interventional products for three separate multinational companies, eventually earning a STAR (‘Steady as a Rock’) leadership award for his work in 2013. He would hold that position for five years.

In 2014, he launched his first entrepreneurial venture by founding Nuvate, a company focused on developing new medical devices. Around the same time, he was involved in the creation of PosiGuard, a business built around a novel surgical tool. PosiGuard was later acquired by CR Bard about two years after its debut.

In 2016, Stephen Pankratz became an early advisor and investor in Flosonics Medical, a venture-backed start-up that develops and commercializes wearable sensors, which improve clinical management of critically ill patients.

Motivated by the medical needs of their son who was born with cerebral palsy, Stephen Pankratz and his wife, Kim Kucher, developed the prototype Upseat by working closely with physiotherapists and engineers. They launched the business in 2018, and began limited manufacturing and sales in the years that followed.

In 2023, Stephen and Kim made an appearance on CBC’s Dragons’ Den to pitch their then relatively unknown baby seat, which to that point, had only been manufactured in small batches and sold in a limited capacity. The couple made a splash on the show, sharing the heartfelt story behind the product’s creation, and explaining how existing baby seats lacked proper ergonomic support, which prompted them to design a better one. Their pitch, which asked for $200,000 in exchange for 15% equity, impressed the titular Dragons and sparked a flurry of competing offers.

After the couple’s appearance on Dragon’s Den, the company scaled quickly, expanding across North America while keeping its manufacturing base in Canada.

Net Worth

Information about Stephen Pankratz’s net worth is not currently available to the public.

Achievement

Helping launch several medical product lines across Canada during his tenure at Canadian Hospital Specialties Ltd.

Founding the medical device company Nuvate in 2014.

Developing PosiGuard, which was eventually acquired by a major medical company in 2016.

Creating the Upseat prototype after identifying a gap in the market for ergonomic baby seats.

Pitching Upseat successfully on CBC’s Dragons’ Den in 2023, and receiving multiple offers from the Dragons.