MedTech Innovator picks 50 startups for accelerator program

June 22, 2020 By Sean Whooley Leave a Comment

MedTech Innovator today announced the 50 startup companies it selected for its flagship four-month showcase and accelerator program.

The accelerator program awards up to $500,00 in cash and in-kind prizes during its final competition at The MedTech Conference, led by AdvaMed.

According to a news release, the virtual program is set to begin on June 25 when leadership from each of the 50 companies will participate in the MedTech Innovator Summit, collaborating with MedTech Innovator’s partners and participating in virtual networking events and workshops.

A 30-company subset will participate in the accelerator program, receiving in-depth, customized mentorship and support. MedTech Innovator said the acceptance rate for the competitive program was just 3%, with pitches from 190 companies evaluated out of more than 1,000 applications across 45 countries.

From Oct. 5-7 at The MedTech Conference, all 50 companies will present in showcase panels, while four startups from the accelerator cohort will compete for the “Execution Award,” with another four to advance to compete in the “Grand Final” competition, in which an audience vote will determine the winner of a $350,000 grand prize.

“During these uncertain and challenging times, the need for health innovations — specifically those that promise to deliver long-term value to the health care system and patients — is more critical than ever,” MedTech Innovator Paul Grand said in the news release. “MedTech Innovator is deeply committed to finding the best and brightest medical technology startups around the world and providing them with the right resources to help them succeed. We are excited to welcome this year’s cohort of entrepreneurs who are undoubtedly poised to improve the lives of patients through innovation.”

Last year’s MedTech Innovator winner was Forest Devices, a Pittsburgh-based company developing a portable device to use electroencephalogram monitoring and machine learning to diagnose large-vessel occlusions and other stroke subtypes. The technology is designed to enable first responders to triage patients to proper stroke centers.

The 50 companies selected for the program are listed below:

7D Surgical – Toronto
8chili* – Oakland, California
Aidar Health* – Baltimore
Aksense* – Istanbul, Turkey
Biolinq – San Diego
BioSense* – Detroit
Candesant Biomedical – San Francisco
Cardiosense* – Chicago
cellvie* – Boston
Cerebra* – Winnipeg, Canada
Circadia Health* – London
CorWave – Clichy, France
Envision Endoscopy* – Somerville, Massachusetts
Forcen* – Toronto
Hyalex Orthopaedics – Lexington, Massachusetts
iDentical* – Mountain View, California
Inflammatix – Burlingame, California
Iterative Scopes – Cambridge, Mass.
Kheiron Medical Technologies – London
Lief Therapeutics* – San Francisco
LimFlow – Paris
MagPAD Medical* – New York
MateraCor* – Aliso Viejo, California
Monarch Biosciences* – Los Angeles
Moray Medical* – Mountain View, California
MOWOOT* – Barcelona, Spain
Nasus Medical* – Mountain View, California
Neurescue* – Copenhagen, Denmark
NeuroFlow – Philadelphia
Novian Health – Chicago
Oncodisc* – San Francisco
OXOS Medical – Atlanta
Parker Isaac Instruments* – Ithaca, New York
PolyVascular* – Houston
Provisio Medical – San Diego
Puzzle Medical Devices* – Montreal
Relavo* – Baltimore
Remedee Labs* – Meylan, France
Rhaeos* – Evanston, Illinois
Sentien Biotechnologies – Lexington, Massachusetts
SepTec* – Dublin
SidekickHealth – Reykjavik, Iceland
Sonavex – Baltimore
SoniVie – Boston & Rosh Ha’ayin, Israel
Synergia Medical* – Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium
Vena Vitals* – Irvine, California
Vivante Health – Houston
XaTek – Cleveland, Ohio

* Company is participating in the 30-company accelerator program

What’s next for nitinol tubing?
Nitinol’s unique properties have made it the darling of the medical device industry. A novel technique for mechanically joining nitinol to other metal tubing could reduce cost and mitigate risk. Mark Broadley, Viant Nitinol has revolutionized the medical device industry. With its flexible superelasticity, shape memory and biocompatibility, nitinol has become a go-to material for… […]
Report: Haemonetics’ blood-collection devices could leave particles in donors
A consortium of news outlets is questioning the safety of Haemonetics (NYSE:HAE) blood-collection devices, claiming that particles have been detected in donors whose plasma was extracted by the machines. According to a report in the Miami Herald, whistleblower documents indicate that more than 150 Haemonetics customer reports have been made regarding the presence of particles by plasma collection centers and heathcare… […]
Spinal Elements’ cervical fixation system wins FDA nod
Spine surgery technology developer Spinal Elements announced today that it received FDA clearance for its Sapphire X product for anterior cervical fixation. Sapphire X is comprised of integrated instrumentation and high-angulation screws designed to help surgeons perform a procedure while preserving the patient’s skeletal and muscle tissue. The instrumentation is designed to reduce procedural steps… […]
How COVID-19 impacts FDA interactions with medical device manufacturers
By Stewart Eisenhart, Emergo Group The US Food and Drug Administration may revise performance goals and timelines set under the Medical Device User Fee Amendments IV (MDUFA IV) as emergency efforts targeting the coronavirus pandemic take up more of the agency’s time. Get the full story here at the Emergo Group’s blog. The opinions expressed… […]
Switchback Medical adds ‘sandbox approach’ to device testing
Contract manufacturer Switchback Medical (Maple Grove, Minn.) today announced that it has added a new division. Switchback BioSim Innovations offers functional dynamic biosimulator model development, cell culture services and physician training, according to the company. Biosimulator models use animal and human tissue to create functional models, such as a pumping heart with working valves to… […]
Smith College team wins ventilator design challenge
A team of Smith College engineering alumnae, staff and faculty has won the CoVent-19 Challenge to design a rapidly deployable ventilator to address shortages caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in developing countries. A dozen anesthesiology resident physicians from Massachusetts General Hospital kicked off the public challenge April 1, attracting 200 entries. The 30-person team… […]
FDA gives certain device makers more time to add UDIs
The FDA said today that it will grant manufacturers of Class 1 and unclassified medical devices and certain others more time to add unique device identifiers (UDIs) to their products. These companies will now have until Sept. 24, 2022 to comply with the agency’s UDI rule, including standard date formatting, labeling and Global Unique Device… […]
Eurofins launches 10-minute COVID-19 exposure testing device
Eurofins (Paris:ERF.PA) announced today that it launched its rapid point-of-care testing devices to identify past exposure to COVID-19. The serology-based, finger-prick tests detect antibodies with a sensitivity of 94.5% from 19 days following the onset of symptoms, with results coming in just 10 minutes, according to a news release. Get the full story at our sister site,… […]
How is RF technology shaping the future of medtech?
RF technology, including microwaves, isn’t just about wireless communications or military radar these days. Times Microwave Systems experts point out that it is increasingly important when it comes to medtech. Many medical electronics systems such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) systems for cancer detection rely on RF/microwave technology. Times Microwave Systems (Wallingford, Conn.) is hosting… […]
Medical device litigation and COVID-19: What you need to know
The COVID-19 pandemic is creating a new set of medical device litigation challenges — but also a chance for an industry reset. One of Greenberg Traurig’s top medtech litigation lawyers shares her insights. Sara Thompson doesn’t take any guff when she tells people that she defends medical device and pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits. “I say,… […]
Mayo Clinic needed to engineer its way through COVID-19: Here’s what they did.
The health system’s medical and engineering staffs had to devise their own solutions for lab gear, PPE and operating room air decontamination. As COVID-19 settles into several regions of the U.S., healthcare systems that once sat on the sidelines likely will find themselves in the same situation as their counterparts in the Northeast did earlier… […]