St. Louis telehealth startup Rezilient has been named a finalist in a global innovation contest, snagging a portion of a $10 million prize purse.
Rezilient is one of 15 groups that will compete next year in the final round of the $10 million ANA Avatar XPRIZE contest. The contest, staged by the nonprofit XPRIZE Foundation, is a four-year global startup competition that includes teams developing robotic avatar systems designed to “transport human presence to a remote location in real time.”
Founded in 2016, Rezilient has developed robotic telehealth technology and a cloud platform that allows doctors to perform medical services remotely. CEO Danish Nagda and Chief Technology Officer Jeff Gamble co-founded Rezilient.
The 15 ANA Avatar XPRIZE finalists, which are based in eight counties, will be awarded an equal share of a $2 million prize purse and have the chance to compete for the additional $8 million that will be doled out through the final round. The contest's winners will be named after it completes its final round of competition in fall 2022. The winner will receive $5 million, with second and third place winning $2 million and $1 million, respectively.
“We’re thrilled to announce the finalist teams moving forward in the ANA Avatar XPRIZE,” said David Locke, executive prize director of the ANA Avatar XPRIZE. "The cutting-edge technology we witnessed at semifinals testing has the potential to entirely reimagine the human experience. We’re excited to see how teams further fine-tune their technology systems as we lead up to Finals Testing.”
Rezilient was among 37 firms that competed in September in the semifinal round of the contest. In naming the finalists, the ANA Avatar XPRIZE ranked the 15 companies based on their scoring in the semifinal round. Rezilient came in at No. 13 among the 15 finalists.
For Rezilient, its selection to the ANA Avatar XPRIZE finals comes after it announced in August that it had raised $2.5 million in seed funding. The startup plans to use that capital to launch its first “CloudClinics,” which will offer concierge primary care and launch through partnerships with employers. It plans to open its first clinics in the St. Louis and Miami regions.
