South Louisiana welcomes ten companies from across the United States to participate in a healthcare-focused business acceleration program, Accelerate South. For the next four months, a host of healthcare partners, investors and subject matter experts will assist the selected companies to identify challenges and opportunities while strategically helping to move their business forward.
Acadian Companies, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana, Lafayette General Foundation, LHC Group, Louisiana Orthopaedics Specialists, The Perret Group, and VieMed have committed to partner with the federally funded business accelerator program and open their facilities’ doors to test innovative products/services. The ten identified startups will additionally have the opportunity to work with interns from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s MBA program and can potentially receive investment dollars from the program’s healthcare partners and individual accredited investors.
Accelerate South will run from August 28, 2018, until late November in the progressive incubator, Opportunity Machine. Startups throughout the duration of the program will work through individually tailored curricula at different capacities alternating between onsite and virtual weeks. The selected companies were accepted from a pool of 70 applicants:
Fairway Biomed (St. Louis, MO) bleeding control in resection surgeries done in the liver, kidney, and lungs.
NeuroRescue (Columbus, OH) prehospital medical device to begin induced hypothermia protocol.
Birya Biotech (Baltimore, MD) improving the quality of life for those battling severe allergies.
F3 Healthcare (Carrboro, NC) reducing opioid usage after surgical discharge with patient experience indicators.
Hera Health Solutions (Atlanta, Ga) biodegradable long-term drug delivery implant.
Cure Global (Pineville, La) telehealth for correctional facilities.
Insight Optics (Atlanta, Ga) retinal diagnostic platform for primary care physicians.
Levisonics (New Orleans, La) non-contact analysis of blood coagulation and fluid quality control testing.
ThinkGenetic (Boston, Ma) cutting-edge genetic diagnostic tool.
ExperonHealth (Lafayette, La) predictive tools to maximize resources throughout healthcare facilities and enhance patient visibility.
The companies will be debuted to the region and compete for $2500 in cash prizes during the Get Started Medical pitch competition hosted by Cox Business on August 30th. “Accelerate South is an innovative and exciting program that will host companies with progressive new ideas to improve healthcare” Accelerate South’s Executive Director, Reece Theriot shares “We are excited to kick off our program with the Get Started Medical pitch competition hosted by Cox Business, giving our cohort an opportunity to introduce themselves to our local healthcare ecosystem. I encourage interested parties to RSVP for the event at www.getstartedmedical.com.”
Accelerate South is the second business accelerator program funded by a federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant through Winrock International. Accelerate South leverages the momentum from the previous Accelerate Acadiana program. Accelerate Acadiana provided resources to nine local businesses who were helped by over 90 mentors giving over 3500 hours of business advice. The nine businesses graduated on Nov 2, 2017, after completing a 12-week curriculum. Both Accelerate South and Accelerate Acadiana are initiatives that are administrated by grant partners Community Foundation of Acadiana, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette Economic Development Authority’s Opportunity Machine, Acadiana Economic Development Council and One Acadiana.
