Cardiology-focused HeartX Accelerator picks five startups for its program
The companies include Flosonics Medical, Happitech, MindMics, Nanowear, and SmartCardia
Heart disease is the leading cause of death for Arkansans. In 2020, there were 8,621 deaths due to heart disease in our state. Arkansas ranked 4th among all states for the highest heart disease mortality in 2020.
That's why HealthTech Arkansas and MedAxiom, along with 11 cardiology practices in Arkansas and around the country, teamed up to create HeartX, a cardiovascular-focused healthcare accelerator.
For HeartX, HealthTech Arkansas leads recruitment efforts, presents finalist companies to the hospital selection committee for interviews and selections, identifies pilot champions/PIs at participating hospitals, facilitates pilot projects and clinical trials, and manages the investment fund that runs in parallel to the accelerator.
MedAxiom, meanwhile, provides a webinar to the MedAxiom membership, exhibition at a MedAxiom conference, representation on MedAxiom’s website, access to deliver content via MedAxiom channels, and access to MedAxiom operational data.
On Monday, the accelerator announced the five companies that it selected for the 2023 HeartX program. They are:
- Flosonics Medical from Canada, a medical device company that focuses on developing non-invasive sensors to improve the management of critically ill patients.
Its product, the FloPatch, is a wireless, wearable Doppler ultrasound that directly assesses carotid arterial pulse within seconds. Data from the FloPatch provides a window to the left ventricle, which helps clinicians determine when a patient is no longer fluid-responsive, avoiding harmful and ineffective IV fluids.
The company has raised $20 million in venture funding from investors that include iGan Partners and Arboretum Ventures.
- Happitech from the Netherlands, a CE Certified heart rhythm software development kit (SDK) for android and iOS for Remote Patient Management Apps.
With its product, patients can place their finger on a smartphone's camera for 90 seconds to screen for atrial fibrillation.
- MindMics from Massachusetts, a health monitoring software platform that provides heart monitoring through low-frequency acoustical vibrations detected in the ear canal with technology embedded in earbuds and hearing aids.
By capturing every heartbeat and measuring HRV in real time, the company delivers a more accurate analysis of a heart’s performance and ability to bounce back from stress.
- Nanowear from New York, a developer of a nanosensor technology used to be applicable in a broad array of medical conditions and chronic disease states.
Its diagnostics tool, which uses patented cloth-based nanotechnology, captures over 85 medical-grade biomarkers directly from the skin.
The company has raised $1.5 million from Social Capital, MedTech Innovator, and MAS Holdings.
- SmartCardia from Switzerland, a company whoe patch and cloud SaaS platform is a single solution for complete cardiology practice and remote patient monitoring.
The company produces the 7L Patch and 7-Lead ECG patch for cardiology and remote patient monitoring (RPM), offering real-time ECG and vitals with SaaS. A single patch serves multiple service types: Mobile Cardiac Telemetry, RPM, Holter, Extended Holter, and Event Monitoring.
The company has raised $10.1 million from Venture Kick.
To be eligible for HeartX, companies needs to have data indicating their innovation works, such as a pilot project or clinical trial conducted at another clinical site, and they need to have raised at least $500,000 of external capital.
Those companies accepted into the program are guaranteed at least two pilot projects or clinical trials from among the ten largest hospitals and health systems in Arkansas, they also receive $150,000 of investment capital as well as access to clinicians and administrators while executing their pilot projects and clinical studies in the HeartX program.
