A national, private-public partnered accelerator program — co-hosted by Moffitt Cancer Center and Digital Medicine Society — has picked its first set of 16 startups.
The one-year-old program CancerX seeks to advance innovation in oncology and hails from a Biden Administration cancer prevention initiative called the Cancer Moonshot. The accelerator program is one of the partnership's initiatives.
A panel of expert judges chose the startups in this inaugural class. Each startup will now participate in the four-month program, where each will build a roadmap for scaling the business, according to a release.
Dr. Brian Gonzalez, an associate director at Moffitt, told the Tampa Bay Business Journal that plans are in progress for these startups to visit Tampa and connect with the cancer center and its experts.
Moffitt also plans to continue co-hosting this program and hopes the future success of the accelerator will attract attention and partners to the region, Gonzalez said. The accelerator program will, even if indirectly, boost the Tampa Bay area tech hub and develop interest and skills here, he said.
Santosh Mohan, a former vice president at Moffitt, helped organize the accelerator program and was selected as a 40 under 40 honoree by the Tampa Bay Business Journal, alongside winning an Inno Award for his efforts on CancerX. Mohan no longer works with Moffitt.
The Moffitt Cancer Center is the third-largest cancer center in Florida, according to Tampa Bay Business Journal research. Besides patient care, the center works in the startup and innovation world through its office of innovation. It also holds equity in Tampa medtech firm Morphogenesis.
Here are the 16 startups:
- Barcelona-based The Blue Box is creating an at-home breast cancer screening device.
- London-based C the Signs is making an early-stage cancer prediction system.
- Bedford Hills, New York-based Cancer Insights is an AI-powered health systems platform for clinical information applications.
- Indiana-based Curiva makes a non-invasive platform for gynecological cancer diagnosis.
- Colorado-based EnteroTrack LLC. makes minimally invasive gastrointestinal sampling capsules.
- Massachusetts-based Gesund.AI makes support and validation services for medical AI products.
- Montreal-based Gray Oncology Solutions is building an operating system for oncology organizations.
- California-based Lind AI is building a platform for finding clinical research trials.
- Berlin-based Mika makes an app for cancer patients seeking support.
- India-based Navya Care makes a platform that provides secondary opinions on treatment and cancer from sources of information.
- California-based Oatmeal Health seeks to use AI to detect cancer early.
- Colorado-based Orbit Genomics is building a proprietary platform that analyzes specific DNA markers for potential health risks.
- Pennsylvania-based Realyze Intelligence is building tools for clinical trial matching and data abstraction.
- Nashville-based com Reimagine Care has a platform that facilitates cancer patient treatment from the home. It was a finalist in a Tampa General Hospital innovation challenge.
- Illinois-based SurvivorPlan seeks to provide tech tools for treatment and planning support for cancer patients.
- Minnesota-based XanthosHealth is building a social care platform to connect clinics with community-based organizations and people with cancer struggling to access food and shelter.
