A Cincinnati medical technology startup is among eight companies from around the globe selected for the third iteration of a bootcamp-type accelerator program backed in part by the famed Mayo Clinic.
Norwood-based Sense Neuro Diagnostics, which is developing devices to improve outcomes for stroke and brain injury patients, will participate in the MedTech Accelerator, a program of the Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University Alliance for Health Care.
The bootcamp-type program, housed within the ASU Health Futures Center in Phoenix, is designed for early-stage medical device and health care tech companies to accelerate their go-to-market and investment possibilities. Eight companies from around the world, including Israel and Switzerland, will take part in the newest cohort, MedTech’s third, starting March 28.
Sense Neuro is the only company representing the Midwest.
“The MedTech Accelerator has a track record of helping medical and health care startups achieve success through the partnership they create,” Geoff Klass, CEO of Sense Neuro Diagnostics, said in a release. “Sense Neuro is grateful for the opportunity to take part and help us more rapidly bring our life-saving technology to market.”
The companies, per MedTech, will undergo a multi-day immersive curriculum in health care entrepreneurship, including lectures and workshops with scientific and engineering experts; resources to navigate regulatory pathways; and tools for product commercialization and customer acquisition.
Additionally, participants attend mentoring, business development and networking events.
The accelerator is followed by 12 months of collaboration, guidance and tracking and follow-up meetings with the MedTech Accelerator team.
Neither Mayo Clinic nor Arizona State University guarantee funding through participation. Companies selected for the MedTech Accelerator are required to contribute $50,000 worth of cash, convertible notes or equity to the program.
“We are excited about the technologies being represented in the 2022 cohort of companies,” Dr. Rick Hall, a co-managing partner of the MedTech Accelerator, said.
Sense Neuro Diagnostics, founded in 2014 by four University of Cincinnati physicians, is developing non-invasive brain scanners to assess and monitor a patient's neurological status in real time.
One device is a smaller headset for field assessment, like in an ambulance, while another allows for continuous monitoring in a hospital’s neuro-ICU.
The headsets include antennae that transmit a low-power radio frequency through a patient's head — healthy brain tissue, for example, has unique electrical properties — that can detect expanded brain hemorrhage and differentiate between the three different stroke subtypes.
To date, Sense Neuro Diagnostics has landed nearly $10 million in funding, including $1.5 million in grants from the National Science Foundation. The company also received a recent $2.43 million award from the U.S. Department of Defense to develop a new, non-invasive brain scanner to monitor traumatic brain injury in a battlefield-type environment.
Its investors include Queen City Angels, Accelerant Ventures Dayton, Cleveland Clinic, Global Cardiovascular Innovation Fund, and a private group of Cincinnati-based neuro physicians.
The company has five full-time and six part-time employees and is based at Norwood’s Alloy Development Co., formerly HCDC.
