STARTUP CAME OUT ON TOP OVER 14 OTHER COMPETITORS AT HEALTHCARE DEALMAKERS CONFERENCE
Socrates Health Solutions snagged the grand prize at the inaugural Innovation Pitch Competition Wednesday at this year’s two-day Healthcare Dealmakers Conference at the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas.
The event was organized by Health Wildcatters, a mentor-driven seed accelerator focused on the health-care industry, garnered nearly 100 applicants for the startup pitch competition. The top 15 were selected to give their 5-minute pitch for the chance to win $5,000 from Health Wildcatters and $5,000 in legal services from Polsinelli, an Am Law 100 firm that focuses on early stage and healthcare industry companies.
Socrates Health Solutions believes its proprietary technology has the ability to “disrupt an $11B market.”
“We are proud to honor Socrates Health Solutions as the winner of this competition. The team wowed the crowd of investors with their innovative new approach,” said Hubert Zajicek, Health Wildcatters CEO. “We know they have a bright future in helping redefine the health-care market and are excited to see them move to the next level with counsel from Polsinelli.”
Socrates Health Solutions won the competition with its small, inexpensive device called Companion. Companion is a small glucose monitoring device that clips onto the patient’s ear and quickly measures their glucose levels without the use of blood or strips, which means there are no finger pricks required.
Scott Julian Smith of Socrates health Solutions (Staff Photo: Quincy Curé Preston)
Socrates Health Solutions believes its proprietary technology has the ability to “disrupt an $11B market.”
While the Companion is not yet available for purchase, a pilot study was facilitated by Dr. Charles Brodsky and Baylor University Medical Center.
“Socrates Health Solutions’ pitch was impressive and refined. The startup’s business plan and success to date illustrated a great deal of potential,” said conference founder Jon Henderson, who serves as managing partner of Polsinelli’s Dallas office and also chairs the firm’s nationwide Corporate and Transactional practice.
Attendees watched the pitches and voted for their favorite to select the winner.
Graham Randall of Noninvasix and Julia Cheek of Everlywell (Photo: Quincy Preston)
Aside from the grand prize winner, two other startups, Everlywell and Noninvasix, tied for runners-up.
Everlywell is a direct-to-consumer health testing company that provides innovative, at-home test kits and redesigned lab results. And Noninvasix is a noninvasive alternative for brain oxygenation monitoring in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
“Innovation and M&A activity are the most significant enablers defining the future of the health care industry,” Henderson said.
The conference runs through Thursday.
Read more about Socrates:
Health Innovation Pitch Winner Makes Monitoring Blood Sugar Painless
Read more on the Healthcare Dealmakers Conference:
Dealmakers Conference Melds Money, Medicine
Healthcare Dealmakers Conference 2016
To follow Healthcare Dealmakers Conference coverage and get a daily dose of what’s new and next in Dallas-Fort Worth innovation subscribe to the Dallas Innovates Every Day newsletter.
R E A D N E X T
-
Five local winners received up to $200,000 in funding to activate their solutions throughout North Texas.
-
The parent company of Catalyst Health Network, StratiFi Health, has acquired MediBookr, which streamlines communication between patients and providers with its digital suite of solutions. Catalyst Health Network and MediBookr will now act as one organization dedicated to enabling primary care for everyone.
-
High schoolers who focused on the mental, emotional aspects of health care dominated the hackathon. That's especially impressive, considering that of the 14 teams competing, four were high school teams, eight were college teams, and two were professional teams. See the top three winning submissions here.
-
The award from the National Institutes of Health will help HSC lead the AI/Machine Learning Consortium to Advance Health Equity and Researcher Diversity, or AIM-AHEAD, program. The effort will bring together experts in community engagement, AI/ML, health equity research, data science training, and data infrastructure.
-
The noninvasive technology—developed in collaboration with Austin-based Shani Biotechnologies—may enable real-time monitoring of vital blood parameters like hemoglobin, without taking blood samples or using expensive equipment. It could be especially useful for monitoring people of color, helping to close racial disparities in health care diagnostics.
