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5 Black medtech startup founders to know

Sanxtuary MD founder and CEO Dr. Amber Robins [Photo courtesy of gBETA]

Five startup founders are preparing their pitches for the gBETA Medtech Black Founders Accelerator’s virtual showcase next week.

Their companies are the eighth cohort for the gBETA Medtech Accelerator, which focused on Black founders for its fall 2022 program. The five companies received $10,000 grants, plus coaching, mentorship and other support over the course of the seven-week program.

The gBETA Medtech Accelerator is a program of startup accelerator Gener8tor and the University Enterprise Labs (UEL) business incubator in St. Paul, Minnesota, with mentorship support from Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota and Medical Alley Association. The program’s sponsors inculde Boston Scientific and Fox Rothschild. UEL and Gener8tor also get support through a cooperative agreement with BARDA DRIVe.

You can RSVP for the virt…

Startup licenses Harvard tech to develop ultra-sensitive COVID antibody assay

This colorized scanning electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round blue objects), the virus that causes COVID-19, emerging from the surface of cells cultured in the lab. [Image courtesy of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases]

New startup Spear Bio plans to commercialize ultrasensitive protein-detection technology from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

Boston-based Spear Bio licensed the DNA nanotechnology-driven Successive Proximity Extension Amplification Reaction (SPEAR) in a worldwide exclusive agreement with Harvard’s Office of Technology Development.

Spear Bio will develop a reagent-based platform for ultrasensitive protein detection in small-volume samples with an initial focus on research-use-only applications, Harvard said in a news release.

RELATED: Here’s where Harvard’s engineering dean sees medtech research going Read more

gBETA Medtech accelerator picks its next startups

The gBETA Medtech virtual accelerator today named the five startups that will participate in the spring program leading up to the June 21 showcase day.

The five startups for the spring 2022 cohort are:

Mother of Fact: This mobile app for moms with babies offers nutrition tracking, preventative monitoring and daily coaching from licensed dietitians and lactation experts. Emily Sylvester is the CEO and founder of parent company NurtureTalk in Langdon, New Hampshire.

OmniVis: Based in South San Francisco, California, this device developer made a handheld infectious disease diagnostic that can deliver results within a half hour. The iSpyDx device can currently detect cholera and E. coli in water, and the company’s website says it will soon be able to diagnose malaria, HIV and sepsis. CEO Katherine Clayton’s co-founders include Tamara Kinzer-Ursem, Jacqueline Linnes and Steven Wereley.

Q-rounds: This app tells hospitalized patients, their …

The promise and pain of startup customers: 3 ways to support early-stage innovators without becoming a high-risk investor

Kate Stephenson is the owner and founder of Dyad Engineering. [Photo courtesy of Dyad Engineering]

Startups represent a highly lucrative opportunity for suppliers to get in on the ground floor of a whole new product line, but their low success rate and high-touch needs can make them a dangerous distraction from your main customers.

Kate Stephenson, Dyad Engineering

Enthusiastic and highly committed to their cause, medical device startup founders speak with a deep passion about righting the wrongs of healthcare and the immense potential for profit in doing so.

However, they also tend to be overly confident, naïve about the sheer amount of work their idea represents and perennially underfunded.

The risks and rewards of working with startups are constantly shifting. To mitigate the risks without resorting to a blanket “no startup” policy, there are three strategies every medical device manufactur…

Deadline nears for gBETA Medtech startup accelerator

The gBETA program for medtech startups is seeking applicants from across the globe on or before March 14 for its spring session.

The seven-week gBETA Medtech virtual accelerator runs April 18 through June 14. gBETA is a program of startup accelerator Gener8tor and the University Enterprise Labs business incubator in St. Paul, Minnesota, with support from Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota, Medical Alley Association and founding sponsor Boston Scientific.

Up to five startups will be selected for the medtech program, which covers medical devices, diagnostics, healthcare software, biotechnology, drug discovery and delivery and more. They’ll participate in webinars, regular meetings with the gBETA Medtech team, mentor and investor swarms — like speed dating sessions with founders, investors, serial entrepreneurs, technical professionals, board members and industry experts — and then a demo day and pitch night, followed by ongoing support after the progr…

Why Big Pharma is partnering with startups as it becomes more data-driven

Image courtesy of Pexels

Big Pharma’s ability to innovate has grown in recent years, and the industry’s increasing reliance on data could help it sustain momentum in the future.

While McKinsey notes that the industry has been relatively slow in adopting technologies such as AI and automation, the industry is growing more tech-savvy.

“The acceptance of data is picking up across the industry,” said David Harel, co-founder and president of CytoReason, an Israeli startup working with six of the top ten pharma companies.

At the same time, pharmaceutical research is headed in a much more collaborative direction where partnership and licensing are common, said Ed White, chief analyst and VP of IP and innovation research at Clarivate.

The pharma industry has traditionally had a large amount of data to tap in drug discovery and development, but the volume of data in the fi…