Gener8tor's gBETA Medtech accelerator program, based in Minneapolis, announced the five members of its spring 2021 cohort Friday.
The accelerator is free for participating startups. Over 170 companies applied to join the program, Gener8tor said. The cohort includes Breathe99, a local startup that was named one of Minne Inno's Startups to Watch for 2021.
The seven-week program starts this month and will cap with a virtual pitch night on June 7. The cohort will be hosted virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The accelerator was launched in 2018 and is run by accelerator company Gener8tor and St. Paul's University Enterprise Labs, a shared lab space for biotechnology and life-sciences startups. The founding sponsor for the program was Boston Scientific and mentors for this cohort will be pulled from the Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota and the Medical Alley Association.
"Mayo Clinic is proud to support gBETA Medtech in their mission to identify and accelerate emerging companies with high potential to address health care’s biggest challenges. gBETA’s commitment to diversifying and increasing access to entrepreneurship is a model for other organizations committed to advancing medical innovation," Mayo Clinic Corporate Development Manager Bart Emery said in statement.
The five companies are:
- Rhaeos: Rhaeos is an Evanston, Ill.-based startup working on a noninvasive wearable skin patch that helps sufferers of hydrocephalus, a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid. Rhaeos has raised $2.3 million in financing and received breakthrough designation from the FDA.
- OpalGenix: OpalGenix is a Carmel, Ind.-based startup that makes a genetics-based opioid risk prediction platform to help doctors personalize pain therapies. The firm has received patents for its platform in the U.S. and Europe.
- Breathe99: Breathe99 is a Minneapolis-based startup that makes stylish but industrial-grade face masks for everyday use. Since the Covid-19 pandemic began, Breathe99 has shipped face masks to over 24,000 customers and has pulled in over $1.5 million in revenue.
- UptimeHealth: UptimeHealth is a Charlestown, Mass.-based startup that runs a platform for medical-equipment management and servicing. UptimeHealth has over 150 facilities on its platform and has generated over $150,000 in revenue.
- Xtraction Corp: Xtraction is a San Antonio, Texas-based startup working on a technology to make removing specimens and organs during surgery easier. It has received a patent for its technology and tested it in stimulated surgical environments.
