This is one of Pittsburgh Inno's 10 Startups to Watch in 2023. These budding enterprises have been selected following suggestions made by experts in the startup community and an evaluation by editorial staff at Pittsburgh Inno and the Pittsburgh Business Times. A list of all 10 Startups to Watch in 2023 is now available to read online.
Korion Health Inc.
About the company: Korion Health Inc. is an Oakland-based startup founded in 2022 by CEO Anna Li, COO Galen Kirkpatrick, CTO Akshaya Anand and CFO Andrew Nguyen that aims to make early heart disease screenings and interventions more accessible through the development of affordable electronic stethoscopes. The company’s stethoscopes feature a guided interface for on-demand diagnostics and educational tools that aid patients with their heart and lung screenings from the convenience of their own homes. Korion Health has raised $35,000 in preseed funding and is actively raising its seed round. Total funding to date awarded to the startup has reached $100,000. The startup employs 11, all but one of whom are part-time. It has not disclosed publicly how much it expects its stethoscopes to cost.
Why we’re watching: With their current funding round and plans to grow, Korion Health is well-positioned to make a significant impact in the industry and possesses the potential to improve the lives of millions of people worldwide. The startup already has participated in several local programs including those from Ascender and LifeX. It also has filed a provisional patent for its affordable electronic stethoscope and is one of the University of Pittsburgh’s Big Idea Advantage Fund recipients.
What’s their vision for 2023: “As far as upcoming milestones, we are on track to get FDA approval for our stethoscope and guided interface by the end of 2023 [even though] original projections were for the end of 2024,” Li said. “We are then hoping to market to telemedicine companies and then reinvest profits into building out the machine learning-based diagnostics and educational tools to get the product ready for direct-to-consumer use.”
