Near the end of winter (please, dear sweet Paul and Babe, please), it’s always nice to hear the word “spring.” It’s even better when the word is attached to a new cohort of startups ready to take the scene by storm and/or refreshing spring shower.
gener8tor has announced the five companies participating in the accelerator’s gBETA Medtech Spring 2020 cohort. The program, which began on Feb. 13 and culminate with an April 2 pitch night, works with medical device, healthcare-related software, biotech, and diagnostics startups for no equity or fees. Cohort companies get coaching and training from the accelerator’s network of mentors and are ideally developed into prime candidates for full-time accelerator programs or seed investments. The 2020 Minneapolis iteration is also the first to be spearheaded by Jackie Mejia. The new director founded a biotech startup, has experience as a research scientist and lab manager, and participated in the gBETA Medtech program in Madison in 2016.
The five startups currently working in the Spring 2020 program are (with descriptions courtesy of gener8tor):
Anatomi Corp (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Co-Founder: Patrick Walsh
Anatomi Corp Anatomi’s platform technology enables manufacture of functional human neurons from stem cells within one week. This 5X improvement accelerates drug development pipelines for pharmaceutical companies discovering treatments for conditions like chronic pain, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases. Anatomi is a Minnesota C-Corp based in Minneapolis and growing 30% month-over-month since December 2019.
Laplace Interventional (Maple Grove, Minnesota)
CEO: Ramji
Laplace Interventional’s device offers an increase in life expectancy and quality of life to the 500K+ US and EU patients diagnosed with Tricuspid Regurgitation (TR) every year. TR occurs when the tricuspid valve leaks resulting in right side heart failure and high mortality rates. Yet, more than 90% of patients go untreated. Laplace Interventional’s artificial valve is delivered through a simple minimally invasive procedure, reducing future complications in patients. Laplace Interventional’s founder developed this patent-pending transcatheter device utilizing his 10+ years of heart valve development experience and knowledge.
Sandstone Diagnostics (Pleasanton, CA)
CSO: Greg Sommer
Sandstone Diagnostics Sandstone’s Torq™ Zero Delay Centrifuge System enables access to lab testing anywhere, anytime by bringing the centrifuge to the patient. The patent-pending Torq System includes a handheld, battery-powered centrifuge and single-use discs providing automated plasma or serum separation at the point of blood collection (instead of waiting until samples arrive at the lab). Torq dramatically improves sample quality, stability, test sensitivity, and reliability for laboratories and diagnostic providers. Sandstone holds 27 US patent applications (13 issued) and two FDA 510(k) clearances.
Stim Sherpa (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
CEO: Matthew Smyth
Stim Sherpa StimSherpa’s digital tuning platform and algorithm optimizes neurostimulation for individuals with spinal cord injury. Globally, 300K+ such individuals suffer from loss of control over blood pressure, bladder, bowel and sexual function, temperature regulation and movement. Neurostimulation devices can restore these functions when the right settings are selected from among billions of possible settings. StimSherpa’s algorithm identifies optimal, patient-centric settings and has enabled the fastest-growing clinical trial in the spinal cord injury space.
Visana Health (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
CEO: Joe Connolly
Visana Health Visana Health’s digital health program empowers the 176M women suffering from endometriosis with clinically-proven methods that improve pain resolution by 88%. Visana Health saves self-insured employers and insurers up to $35K per patient by avoiding 85% of surgeries and reducing time-to-diagnosis by 10 years. Since launching in Feb 2020, Visana Health is piloting with Mayo Clinic, Medical College of Wisconsin, and University of North Carolina and is discussing pilots with 10 other academic medical centers.
