Raphael Smith
Co-founder & Director
BSc Aeronautical Engineering · MSc Biomedical Engineering
LinkedIn →About BMEC
A founder-led engineering consultancy.
BMEC is a small team of professionally trained engineers. The founders lead every project, so clients work directly with the engineers doing the work.
Who we help
Founders, managing directors and technical teams.
We take on work from a single design task to a full product development programme, at any stage and in any of our disciplines. Our clients share a defined technical problem and a need for independent advice and reliable delivery.
A founder with a prototype that needs a route to production. A company let down by a vendor, unsure who owns their IP. A non-technical CEO needing fractional CTO support. A medical-device developer navigating regulation. An established company with a specific build to get right.
- Long-term relationships. Clients return for follow-on work across industrial, medical, software and agritech.
- First-time CE certification on a 1,000+ component system, with no material revisions before production.
- Concept to clinical medical devices across multiple disciplines, with PCT patents filed.
- R10M+ programmes delivered across multiple production phases.
Why BMEC
Why clients choose BMEC.
Direct advice
We tell you what we think, including when an approach will not work or when a supplier's proposal does not stand up.
Multidisciplinary in-house
Mechanical, electronic, firmware, software and medical engineering in one team. If a project needs one discipline, that is all you pay for.
First-time quality
We model, simulate and run tolerance analysis before we build, which keeps costly redesigns on complex systems to a minimum.
Regulatory and IP experience
CE certification, clinical trials, patent preparation and ISO 13485 across many devices, with engagements structured to protect your IP from day one.
Founder involvement
Raphael and Heidi work on projects directly, not through account managers.
Commercial awareness
Engineering decisions have to make business sense. We make cost-conscious choices and build roadmaps that match budgets and timelines.
Track record
More than ten years of engineering delivery.
0years of continuous delivery
0statements of work delivered
0largest development programme
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"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."
One client relationship has spanned 26 statements of work over more than a decade. Another has been in continuous production with us since 2017. Software and hardware we designed ten years ago are still in service. We have filed PCT patents, and clients retain full ownership of their IP.
The founders
Raphael Smith and Heidi Wilson.
Both founders are directly involved in every project, and the first conversation is usually a video call with one of them.
Where we have delivered
Industries.
- Water Treatment
- Industrial Equipment
- AgriTech
- HealthTech
- Medical Devices
- Hospitality
- Consumer Electronics
- Software
- Manufacturing
- Marine Engineering
- Infrastructure
- Mining
Client milestones
Recent milestones from our clients.
Funding rounds, regulatory clearances and market listings from companies we have worked with, drawn from public coverage.
LIQID Medical
Backed to bring sight-saving implants to market
Raised R28m from the SAB Foundation and ~$1.75m to advance its glaucoma drainage implants, the device family BMEC engineers.
Read more ↗ Strait Access TechnologiesFDA 510(k) clearance for CenterFlow
US clearance (K243184, June 2025) for the South African cardiovascular company, and a first-in-human milestone following TEVAR.
Read more ↗ Maltento$3.3m to scale insect-based feed
Secured $3.3m from Sand River Venture Capital and opened a black soldier fly biotechnology laboratory in Cape Town.
Read more ↗ ArcAquaOzone sanitation sparks global interest
Backed by Remgro's venture arm Invenfin, ArcAqua's chlorine-free food-safety system, built on BMEC engineering, is drawing international demand.
Read more ↗ DISA MedinotecListed on the OTCQX in the US
Medinotec began trading on the OTCQX (MDNC), opening a path for US manufacturing and distribution of its niche medical devices.
Read more ↗ WyrmwoodOne of tabletop's biggest crowdfunds
The Modular Gaming Table raised roughly $8.8m from thousands of backers.
Read more ↗Clients we have worked with across four continents
Latest
Follow our work.
Raphael posts regularly on LinkedIn with engineering notes and project milestones. Workshop and project footage is on Instagram.
Start a conversation
Tell us about your project.
The founders take the first call themselves. We will give you a clear view of what the project involves, including whether it is feasible.