More than 100 female innovators showed up at local accelerator Health Wildcatters over the weekend to not only develop ways to change the health care industry, but also the state of venture capital funding for women.
Co-organized by the SoGal Foundation, a nonprofit platform for diverse entrepreneurs and investors, and Health Wildcatters, the group of female innovators, physicians and researchers, got together to pitch health care-related solutions for the chance to land a $5,000 cash prize, along with a total of $300,000 worth of in-kind prizes at the Women in Science and Healthcare (WISH) hackathon.
“We had tremendous interest in this hackathon, and we were not disappointed with the results,” said Hubert Zajicek CEO of Health Wildcatters, in a prepared statement.
Though 13 teams made their pitches to a panel of judges at the end of the weekend-long event, only two could take home the prizes. And the winners were: FlexRx, a solution to allow patients to control their choice of pharmacy for their prescription and transferability, and Cancer Cruiser, a clinic-in-a-bus concept that brings healthcare closer to the consumer.
Cancer Cruiser was the winner of the popular vote.
The other finalists at the hackathon were:
- #imatter – a suicide prevention and intervention tool for youth
- Clean-icians – a handwashing compliance tool
- Mind Map – a mental health - to enhance usefulness of therapy sessions
- Chimera – a addressing the gender gap in clinical studies
- The Lab Avengers – a lab simulation software to optimize clinical laboratories
- #Free My Pain – a digital tool for opioid addiction prevention
- The Match Makers – a tool to assist in transition from academia to industry
IBM, which was a sponsor of the event, also awarded $100,000 each in cloud credit to Cancer Cruiser, FlexRx and #imatter.
“Our ideal healthcare ecosystem elucidates a self- perpetuating funnel of invention - one that begins with awareness toward localized healthcare, hospital, and human health pain points, and segues into guidance upon commercialization propagated by connectivity between universities, corporations, non-profits, and sponsors,” said Avery Spencer, one of the lead-directors of WISH, in a prepared statement.
"Diversity is a team effort, and we are inspired by the collaborative spirit in the Dallas community to see this vision into fruition."
In addition to developing creative and innovation solutions in the health care industry, the event also looked to address the need for more VC funding for women. According to SoGal, while funding for female founders is at a near record high, the $3.3 billion they receive in funding last year only represents 2.8% of all startup capital invested. This was highlighted at the event by entrepreneurial stories from Texans such as Smriti Zaneveld, founder of Houston-based medical 3D printing startup Lazarus 3D, and Sulagna Bhattacharya, CEO of Bedford-based biomed firm Nanoscope Technologies.
“The hackathon is the first of many steps to enable improved guidance and encouragement for every under or overlooked demographic that seeks to create positive change,” said Rachel West, the SoGal Dallas lead and one of the lead-directors of WISH, in a prepared statement. “Diversity is a team effort, and we are inspired by the collaborative spirit in the Dallas community to see this vision into fruition.”
SoGal Foundation is the organization behind the SoGal Global Pitch Competition, which bills itself as the largest worldwide startup competition for women and diverse entrepreneurs. Last November, the competition stopped in Dallas, where startups Lazarus 3D, women’s sexual health app Rosy Wellness and cannabis gig economy platform Kanna took top prize.
Health Wildcatters was launched in Dallas in 2013 and recently parted ways with its former branch Tech Wildcatters. According to the accelerator and seed fund, it has invested in more than 60 health startups and has raised more than $70 million in capital.
Editor's Note: The original version of this article stated teams won $30K in in-kind prizes and the IBM contributed $10K in cloud credit for three teams. The article has been updated to reflect that $300K worth of in-kind prizes was awarded and IBM contributed $100K to the three teams.
