Three Wisconsin health-related startups took home a total of $50,000 at the recent Health Care Innovation Pitch competition in Milwaukee.
Madison's RedFox AI won $25,000 in the health technology category. In the health care category, judges awarded $20,000 to Pantherics Inc., a drug development startup with ties to the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and $5,000 to Milwaukee's Venus Rehabilitation Technologies.
The Oct. 5 event at Wantable Cafe in the Walker's Point neighborhood was part of MKE Tech Week. It was organized by Daniel Sem of the Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute's Accelerating Medical Product Development with Networked Resources initiative, a partnership between local academic research institutions.
All of the startups that pitched are eligible to receive funds to help cover health care costs for their employees through a partnership with Milwaukee health tech startup Tip a ScRxipt and CU Ventures, a Concordia University Wisconsin subsidiary that Sem leads.
Tip a ScRxipt allows for contributors — in this case, CU Ventures — to pay others' out-of-pocket medical costs through restricted-use debit cards. Each of the nine participating companies will have the option to receive $1,000 to $1,500 on a Tip a ScRxipt card for use at a direct primary care provider, Sem said.
Founded by Nick Myers, the winning health tech startup RedFox AI makes software that leverages conversational artificial intelligence to improve at-home health tests by walking patients through each step of the process.
Pantherics, which is developing an anti-inflammatory drug, is led by Douglas Stafford. Venus Rehabilitation Technologies is developing a device to help stroke survivors improve mobility and is led by Marquette University's Sheila Schindler-Ivens.
The other health tech startups that pitched at the event were:
- LutaFlo Therapeutics LLC, a Milwaukee startup led by Sheldon Garrison that's developing treatments for rare diseases.
- GlobaLaseReach, a Manitowoc-based company founded by Nolan Hetz that's developing a device to treat pelvic pain.
- Melius Outcomes, a Milwaukee firm led by AkkeNeel Talsma whose intelligence platform is designed to help hospitals improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.
- Pagerr, a startup co-founded in Milwaukee by Joseph Alioto that said it aims to bring the gig economy to anesthesiology to help solve staffing challenges.
- HESTIA, a home safety assessment app developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and other partners. UWM's Roger Smith and Laryn O'Donnell presented at the pitch competition.
- Appocratic, a startup led by Erin Magennis designing a digital health care app marketplace that would help other health tech entrepreneurs scale their solutions to providers.
At last year's health care innovation pitch competition, four startups took home a total of $30,000.
