SynDaver Labs owner’s gift to employees: $1.5 million in company stock

Well talk about being a nice boss.

TAMPA — It’s become a very happy holiday season for employees of SynDaver Labs.

The Tampa creator of synthetic cadavers for medical research bestowed $1.5 million worth of company stock to non-management employees at its Christmas party on Friday.

“The holidays are all about giving back and in addition to our Holiday Toys-for-Tots toy drive, we also wanted to show our employees how much we appreciate their hard work,” founder and chief technology officer Christopher Sakezles said in a statement announcing the gift.

The private stock offering was the latest surprise for employees who also received a company-wide 20 percent pay raise in November. A spokesman said the roughly 100 SynDaver employees received various amounts of stock depending on performance, the largest single award being 8,000 shares — with a current value of $56,000 and a potential public offering value of $200,000 to $800,000.

Sakezles launched SynDaver in 2004 and is now shipping $100,000 “human patients” as fast as his team can create them. Earlier this year, he appeared on the ABC business reality show “Shark Tank” to try to raise capital for the business.

Here is also the shark tank episode from earlier this year:

and some creepy hands on examples of the cadavers.

as well as on myth busters


Hey Syndaver, I am local, any chance I can stop by and take a look?? I would love to see one up close. Very kudos for doing the right thing for your loyal employees and making a positive impact on the community.