Medical Alley Association named Peder Hatling as interim director of its venture accelerater program that supports health care startups.
Hatling will serve as interim director of the medtech and life-sciences industry group's program until further notice, the organization said in a statement Thursday.
Medical Alley Starts is an initiative intended to support Minnesota's health care startups. Rather than acting as an incubator or accelerator, which gives intense support to a handful of companies, Starts offers infrastructure to fill gaps in the community. The program connects local startups with global investors and gives them access to suppliers and talent while connecting them with Medical Alley's branding. Since the program launched in 2021, it has helped more than 3,000 organizations worldwide and helps engage 250 investment funds annually.
Frank Jaskulke, the former director of innovation, ran the initiative before he left Medical Alley earlier this year after serving at the Golden Valley-based organization for 19 years.
Hatling brings 20 years of experience in investment banking and merger-and-acquisition strategy to the position. Before joining Medical Alley, Hatling was a partner and head of digital health investment banking at pH Partners, a boutique investment banking firm headquartered in Austin, Texas. Prior to that, Hatling was director of business partnerships at Best Buy Co. Inc. and global merger-and-acquisition strategy management consultant at Deloitte.
“Peder is a trusted leader with a proven track record of success,” said Roberta Dressen, president and CEO of Medical Alley, in a statement. “His deep expertise and dedication to driving innovation make him the ideal person to lead Medical Alley Starts during this discovery period. We are confident that under his leadership, we will continue to empower startups to deliver transformative health care solutions around the world.”
Ben Wagner, associate director of communications at Medical Alley Association, said that Hatling was initially brought on as a consultant to assess the Medical Alley Starts program to determine the next steps for the program.
"The program has been so successful in the past three years, and the next chapter is to scale and grow it and make sure we can meet the demand of this ecosystem," Wagner said. "Starts has almost been a startup of its own. We've been figuring out the needs of the community, connecting emerging entrepreneurs to capital and whatever resources they need to get to the next step in their journey. Peder is going to help take this program to the next level."
The nonprofit Medical Alley supports Minnesota's health care technology economy and has grown to partner with more than 800 health care industry organizations.
In 2024, Medical Alley partnered with Capita3, Bread and Butter Ventures, and iGan Partners. Mayo Clinic is also collaborating with Medical Alley to support AI-enabled companies participating in the Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerate program.
