HealthTech Arkansas Cohort Companies In The News

Astarte, 2020 Cohort

Astarte Medical, a clinical intelligence company, announced it signed a contract with UVA Children’s to implement its NICUtrition software platform to analyze and understand feeding metrics and milestones and the corresponding growth outcomes for preterm infants in the neonatal ICU (NICU). 

EchoIQ, 2022 Cohort

EchoIQ has moved closer to the commercial introduction of its cloud-based solution for the retrospective and real-time identification of guideline-defined severe aortic stenosis during the period. Steady progress was also made toward FDA certification. Read more here.  

EchoIQ demonstrated positive results in two clinical trials and positioned itself to see initial commercial uptake of the cloud-based product later this year. Read more here.  

Genetesis, 2021 Cohort

Genetesis, Inc., the leader in biomagnetic cardiac imaging solutions, announced the appointment of three new members to the executive leadership team who will oversee and execute key aspects of commercialization and clinical research for its flagship solution, CardioFlux. Read more here.  

iCardio.ai, 2022 Cohort

Techstars announced that iCardio.ai has been selected for participation in their 2023 accelerator program. Read more here.

iCardio shared that their scientific research was accepted for publication in the Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography (JASE). Read more here.  

Lapovations, 2018 Cohort

Fayetteville medical device company Lapovations closed an oversubscribed Series A funding round led by investments from multiple angel investors and groups. Read more here.  

Lapovations has attracted more than $3.5 million in dilutive and non-dilutive investment and has 50 independent sales representatives operating in 18 states. Read more here.  

Mediwhale, 2022 Cohort

Mediwhale, the AI-empowered health diagnostics company that uses retina scans to diagnose future cardiac and kidney disorder risk quickly and easily, has been accepted into the 2023 cohort of StartX. Read more here.  

Mediwhale was selected for the MedTech Accelerator. Read more here.  

MediWhale received nice coverage on CNBC: A 26-year-old founded a medical startup — the same year he lost almost half his vision. Read more here.

Movn Health, 2021 Cohort

Movn Health, a leading virtual cardiac rehabilitation and prevention provider, announced that it is launching single sign-on authentication for its entire software platform. Read more here.  

Movn Health, a virtual cardiac rehabilitation and prevention provider, announced that it has successfully passed the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) Service Organization Control (SOC) 2 Examination and has received the SOC 2 Type 2 report. This affirms the company’s strong data-security protocols. Read more here.  

Movn Health was selected as a 2022 UCSF Rosenman ADAPT Program (ADAPT) awardee. ADAPT accelerates developing, scaling, and adopting novel technologies that tackle the most pressing healthcare disparities by pairing early-stage companies with large industry players. Read more here.  

OMNY, 2019 Cohort

OMNY, one of our 2019 cohort companies, has partnered with Atropos Health, a leader in generating personalized, real-world evidence at the point and pace of care. Read more here.  

Sonivie, 2021 Cohort

Sonivie, a medical device company developing a proprietary solution to treat hypertension, announced the completion of a $60 million series C round financing. The financing was led by Andera Partners, with participation from Supernova Invest and Omega Funds. Read more here.  

Zeto, 2020 Cohort

Zeto, Inc., an innovative EEG brain monitoring company, announced the integration of FDA-cleared seizure detection and trending algorithms developed by Encevis, into its EEG platform. Read more here.

HEALTHTECH ARKANSAS AND KX ADVISORS PARTNER TO PROVIDE GROWTH STRATEGY SERVICES TO THE BIOAR TRIAL ACCELERATOR PARTICIPANTS

HealthTech Arkansas and Kx Advisors have partnered to provide support to the biotherapeutics startup companies participating in the BioAR Trial accelerator program. Kx Advisors provides advisory services to help leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical technology, digital health, and diagnostics companies fully capitalize on product opportunities, navigate the environment with greater certainty, and maximize the lifetime commercial value of their portfolios.

As part of the partnership, companies selected for the BioAR Trial cohort will participate in a virtual seminar on growth strategies presented by Kx Advisors, in addition to one-on-one follow-up sessions.

“We’re very excited to bring the formidable skills and experiences of the Kx team to bear for BioAR Trial cohort companies,” said Jeff Stinson, director of HealthTech Arkansas. “Personalized, high-level advisement on growth strategies is another example of how we add value to early-stage companies developing advanced biotherapeutics.”

“We’re thrilled to collaborate in this partnership with HealthTech Arkansas to support the advancement of innovative biotherapeutics and the hope they provide to patients, families, and their healthcare providers,” said Sean Vander Linde, Partner at Kx Advisors. “Among Kx’s strengths is our strategic advice supporting companies with clinical-stage assets. Partnerships such as these allow us to contribute to setting these organizations and their valuable innovations up for success.”

BioAR Trial was created to help biotherapeutics companies in late pre-clinical stages of development bring groundbreaking therapies to market faster, while increasing Arkansans’ access to cutting-edge clinical care and innovative medicines. This effort aligns with HealthTech Arkansas’s mission to identify and bring superior healthcare technologies to Arkansas to benefit the state’s providers.

“We are excited to partner with Kx Advisors, whose guidance will be invaluable to our cohort companies,” said Jahan Ali, Vice President of Business Development at SymBiosis. 

Applications for BioAR Trial are currently open through February 28, 2023. More information and a link to the application can be found at bioarkansas.co.

ABOUT HEALTHTECH ARKANSAS

HealthTech Arkansas helps to drive innovation for healthcare provider organizations through its accelerator programs and through internal innovation programming. Its flagship accelerator, HeartX, recruits worldwide for the most accomplished cardiovascular-focused startups in the areas of digital health, medical devices, and diagnostic platforms. Those companies accepted into the program are guaranteed at least two pilot projects or clinical trials from among the ten largest hospitals and health systems in Arkansas. More information can be found at HealthTechArkansas.com.

ABOUT KX ADVISORS

For over 40 years, Kx Advisors (operating as the healthcare consulting practice of Kaiser Associates) have provided advisory services to help leading pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technology companies fully capitalize on product opportunities, navigate the environment with greater certainty, and maximize the lifetime commercial value of their portfolios. The Kx approach establishes the required fact base to vet critical decisions and brings together data from disparate sources to develop holistic strategies. With offices in Washington D.C., London, and Boston, Kx Advisors possesses the unique ability to generate global insights from physicians, thought leaders, patients, competitors, partners, regulators, suppliers, and payers. Learn more at KxAdvisors.com.  

ABOUT SYMBIOSIS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC

SymBiosis is an investment firm focused on advancing biotherapeutics innovations for serious and life-threatening diseases. The firm invests in groundbreaking medicines across disease area, financing stage, and geography, with a focus on programs in, or about to enter, human trials. SymBiosis currently manages a portfolio of more than 30 investments and has significant, long-term capital commitments to fund future investments. For more information, please visit www.symbiosis.vc or follow us on LinkedIn.

HealthTech Arkansas Adds Two Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

We’re grateful and proud to announce the addition of two Entrepreneurs-in-Residence to the HealthTech Arkansas team: Dr. Jason Beck and Dr. Jay Gandy!

Dr. Beck is a retired radiologist and successful entrepreneur, having co-founded and exited Onsite Imaging Solutions, a mobile radiology business. He now serves as founder and CEO of Tricore Capital. You can learn more about him here.

Dr. Gandy is retiring at the end of this month from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, where he currently serves as Associate Provost for the NWA campus. He’s also the Chief Regulatory Officer for Arkansas startup Rejuvenix Technologies. Dr. Gandy is also a successful entrepreneur, having co-founded and successfully exited from CTEH, an environmental consulting firm. You can see more of Dr. Gandy’s background here.

Our goal is to leverage the skills and experiences of Drs. Beck and Gandy to assist in our work with Arkansas-based healthcare entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators. Given our EIRs' formidable expertise in medicine, science and business, we can’t wait to connect them with our state’s next generation of healthcare innovators for guidance and mentoring. To learn more about how to connect with our EIRs — including Dr. Amy Hester — please reach out to us! 

Dr. Jason Beck

Dr. Jay Gandy

Free Support for Arkansas-Based Healthcare Startup Companies, Entrepreneurs, and Inventors

HealthTech Arkansas has a program specifically designed to work with Arkansas-based healthcare startups. This assistance is a formal, organized, and free program designed to assess the stage of your company, understand the specific needs you have to advance your company and provide as much assistance as we possibly can to help you meet your goals. The assistance includes formal mentoring from the HealthTech Arkansas team as well as engagement — where and how it makes sense — with our partner hospitals and physician practices in the HealthTech Arkansas provider coalition. We know that provider engagement can fundamentally transform the path of many early-stage companies, so we want to bring our relationships to bear for the good of your company.

Examples of support we have offered healthcare startup companies in Arkansas:

• Introductions to potential funding and investment sources

• Introductions to potential customers

• Guidance on pricing and payment models

• Connections to specialty vendors and manufacturers

• Guidance on customer discovery

• Advice on compliance guidelines

• Introductions to potential research partners

• Guidance on messaging for marketing, sales, and pitch presentations

• Guidance on intellectual property management, e.g. patents, trademarks, etc.

If you are interested in working with us, please visit this link to complete the form, then we will follow up and work to develop a plan for helping you. And in those rare cases where we don’t think we can provide immediate help, we’ll connect you with additional resources for you to get that help.

HEALTHTECH ARKANSAS HIRES CLINICAL TRIALS MANAGER FOR BIOAR TRIAL ACCELERATOR PROGRAM

HealthTech Arkansas announced today that it has hired Priya Bargoti as Clinical Trials Manager for the BioAR Trial accelerator program. In this role, Bargoti will coordinate and facilitate clinical trials between BioAR Trial’s participating early-stage biotherapeutics companies and the seven sites in Arkansas where they will conduct clinical trials. Bargoti previously worked for Department of Defense agencies – the Defense Health Agency and the Navy Medical Research Center – managing projects in strategic data analysis and operational management.

BioAR Trial was created by HealthTech Arkansas and SymBiosis Capital Management, LLC to help biotherapeutics companies in late pre-clinical and early clinical stages of development bring groundbreaking therapies to market faster, while increasing Arkansans’ access to cutting-edge clinical care and innovative medicines. This effort aligns with HealthTech Arkansas’s mission to identify and bring superior healthcare technologies to Arkansas to benefit the state’s providers.

“With 14 years of broad clinical trials experience with sites, sponsors and CROs, Priya brings an impressive set of skills to our organization,” said Jeff Stinson, director of HealthTech Arkansas. “I can’t wait to share her formidable talents with the BioAR Trial cohort companies and our sites in Arkansas as we strive to deliver outstanding clinical trials experiences.”

“I look forward to joining the dynamic team at HealthTech Arkansas and supporting the organization’s mission to increase access to innovative care in Arkansas. I aim to form strong bonds with providers and implement efficient methodologies to ensure successful administration of the clinical trials in the BioAR Trial accelerator program,” said Bargoti.

“We are thrilled to welcome Priya, who brings a deep expertise in managing clinical trials, to the BioAR team,” said Jahan Ali, Vice President of Business Development at SymBiosis. “Her experience will be an asset to the program and to the participating companies.”

The application for BioAR Trial is open through January 15, 2023. Companies from around the world are invited to apply to participate in BioAR Trial, which will focus on deploying advanced and emerging therapeutic modalities — such as precision medicines, biologics, cell therapies, and genetic medicines — to treat serious and life-threatening diseases in oncology, immune disorders, and cardio-metabolic disease. BioAR Trial’s first cohort of five companies will begin in April 2023. More information and a link to the application can be found at bioarkansas.co/trial.

ABOUT HEALTHTECH ARKANSAS

HealthTech Arkansas helps to drive innovation for healthcare provider organizations through its accelerator programs and through internal innovation programming. Its flagship accelerator, HeartX, recruits worldwide for the most accomplished cardiovascular-focused startups in the areas of digital health, medical devices, and diagnostic platforms. Those companies accepted into the program are guaranteed at least two pilot projects or clinical trials from among the ten largest hospitals and health systems in Arkansas. More information can be found at HealthTechArkansas.com.

ABOUT SYMBIOSIS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC

SymBiosis is an investment firm focused on advancing biotherapeutics innovations for serious and life-threatening diseases. The firm invests in groundbreaking medicines across disease area, financing stage, and geography, with a focus on programs in, or about to enter, human trials. SymBiosis currently manages a portfolio of more than 30 investments and has significant, long-term capital commitments to fund future investments. For more information, please visit www.symbiosis.vc or follow us on LinkedIn.

HealthTech Arkansas Cohort Companies in the News

2018 cohort company Lapovations has hired Spencer Jones as the company’s chief technology officer and vice president of sales and will lead product innovation and the sales and distribution of the company’s flagship product, AbGrab. Learn more here.

2018 cohort company Medical Informatics Corp. has raised $27 million in financing with a $17 million Series B co-led by Catalio Capital Management through Catalio’s venture capital strategy, and Intel Capital. Learn more here. 

2018 cohort company Medical Informatics Corp. announced it has signed a reseller agreement with Wilhelm, an Australian-owned integrated healthcare technology company with a mission to improve health in Australia and New Zealand. Wilhelm is now authorized to resell MIC’s FDA-Cleared Sickbay Clinical Platform in Australia and New Zealand. Learn more here. 

2019 cohort company OMNY Health announced a $17 million Series B round led by Chicago Pacific Founders (CPF). Dr. Vance Vanier, MD, Co-Founder and Co-Managing Partner of CPF will join the OMNY Board of Directors. Learn more here. 

2020 cohort company Zeto announced its partnership with Next Gen Neuro, a continuous and routine EEG monitoring company, to provide remote EEG monitoring services. Learn more here.  

2020 cohort company Zeto now offers remote routine or continuous electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring services to its customers. At a fixed hourly rate, an accredited monitoring service provides real-time remote video EEG monitoring by registered EEG technologists (R.EEG.T) when such personnel are unavailable on-site. This service is available in real-time upon request with a 30-minute notice 24/7/365, at no extra charge during nights, weekends, or holidays. Learn more here. 

2021 cohort company Genetesis’ founders were featured in this years Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the healthcare category. Learn more here. 

2022 cohort company Acorai announced endorsements from two major healthcare players as they prepare the Acorai Heart Monitor for regulatory submission and clinical use within the next 18 months. Learn more here.

2022 cohort company Echo IQ has raised $3.27 million to fund the United States expansion of its artificial intelligence-based medical technology that supports enhanced diagnosis in structural heart disease. Learn more here.

HEALTHTECH ARKANSAS AND LAINA ENTERPRISES PARTNER TO PROVIDE CLINICAL TRIAL SOFTWARE TO THE BIOAR TRIAL ACCELERATOR PARTICIPANTS

HealthTech Arkansas and Laina Enterprises have partnered to provide support to the biotherapeutics startup companies that participate in the BioAR Trial accelerator program. Laina Enterprises offers an end-to-end solution for Clinical Research Management Systems, which will be an invaluable tool to the participating biotherapeutics companies conducting clinical trials.

As part of the partnership, companies selected for the BioAR Trial cohort will have access to the Laina Clinical Research Management Systems for decentralized, hybrid and site-based clinical trials at no cost for their initial study.

“We’re incredibly gratified to have Laina as a program partner. Gaining exclusive, free access to their incredibly robust clinical trials management platform is a benefit that can be obtained only through participation in our accelerator program,” said Jeff Stinson, director of HealthTech Arkansas. “We look forward to experiencing the deep value the Laina team is prepared to deliver to the five cohort companies chosen to participate in our program each year.”

“Laina’s co-founders have deep roots in entrepreneurship and startups. We feel privileged to be able to give back to the startup community through the collaboration with BioAR Trial,” said Bryan Silverman, Chairman and CEO at Laina Enterprises. 

BioAR Trial was created to help biotherapeutics companies in late pre-clinical stages of development bring groundbreaking therapies to market faster, while increasing Arkansans’ access to cutting-edge clinical care and innovative medicines. This effort aligns with HealthTech Arkansas’s mission to identify and bring superior healthcare technologies to Arkansas to benefit the state’s providers.

“We are excited that Laina is joining the BioAR team as we embark on this new initiative to help bring innovative therapeutics to market,” said Jahan Ali, Vice President of Business Development at SymBiosis. “Laina’s robust platform will enable us to streamline the clinical trial process for our cohort companies and hopefully increase their prospects.”

Applications for BioAR Trial are currently open through January 15, 2023. Companies from around the world are invited to apply to participate in BioAR Trial, which will focus on deploying advanced and emerging therapeutic modalities — such as precision medicines, biologics, cell therapies, and genetic medicines — to treat serious and life-threatening diseases in oncology, immune disorders, and cardio-metabolic disease. BioAR Trial’s first cohort of five companies will begin in April 2023. More information and a link to the application can be found at bioarkansas.co.

ABOUT HEALTHTECH ARKANSAS

HealthTech Arkansas helps to drive innovation for healthcare provider organizations through its accelerator programs and through internal innovation programming. Its flagship accelerator, HeartX, recruits worldwide for the most accomplished cardiovascular-focused startups in the areas of digital health, medical devices, and diagnostic platforms. Those companies accepted into the program are guaranteed at least two pilot projects or clinical trials from among the ten largest hospitals and health systems in Arkansas. More information can be found at HealthTechArkansas.com.

ABOUT LAINA ENTERPRISES

Laina Enterprises offers an end-to-end solution for Clinical Research Management Systems within Decentralized, Hybrid and Site-based studies (www.lainaent.com).

ABOUT SYMBIOSIS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT, LLC

SymBiosis Capital Management, LLC is an investment firm focused on advancing biotherapeutics innovations. Led by Chidozie Ugwumba, Managing Partner, along with an experienced team of professionals, SymBiosis invests across disease area, financing stage, and geography, with a focus on programs in, or about to enter, human trials. The firm currently manages a portfolio of more than 30 investments and has significant, long-term capital commitments to fund future investments. For more information, please visit www.symbiosis.vc or follow us on LinkedIn.