Mayo Clinic received an equity position in each company on its platform. (Source: Adobe Stock)

Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerates Financial Assistance to 7 Startup Companies

Starting the week with some good news was easy when we ran across a piece on medcitynews.com about the Mayo Clinic and its program to boost medical start-ups with cash and data.

What began in March of this year with backing four start-ups, has morphed into support for 7 more. In exchange for an equity position in each startup, Mayo Clinic gives young digital health companies the opportunity to refine their AI models using its de-identified data sets and subject matter experts.

Each company participating in the 20-week Mayo Clinic Platform Accelerate program receives a $200,000 benefit package. As a condition of this investment, Mayo Clinic Platform gets an equity position in each startup.

The package allows startups to refine their AI models using Mayo Clinic’s data sets with identities removed and get feedback from Mayo Clinic’s subject matter experts, including clinicians, researchers, and product development professionals. It also gives startups the opportunity to attend workshops and presentations about topics ranging from FDA clearance requirements to AI ethics. According to Eric Harnisch, Mayo Clinic Platform’s vice president of partner programs, some of these workshops are led by experts from Google and Epic.

Anytime you have a steller corporation the likes of Mayo Clinic not only show interest but be willing to place such a vast amount of data in the hands of motivated startup employees is really like hitting a home run early in the game. If these seven companies are able to follow up with new creations and further medical advancements in combining AI and medicine, it’s a win for all involved.

Here is a partial list of the seven start-ups Mayo Clinic found with their investment.

AESOP Technology

Berkeley, California-based AESOP, which stands for AI-Enhanced Safety of Prescription, develops automation software to improve the clinical decision support process and make physician data entry faster and less error-prone. It recently launched its latest clinical documentation improvement tool, which helps medical coders flag diagnoses or procedures that were flagged incorrectly. The startup has offices in California, Colorado, and Taiwan.

Biotia

New York City-based Biotia is a spinout of Cornell Tech focused on battling infectious diseases with AI and genomics. The company claims it is working toward developing the world’s leading microbial sequence database. It is currently creating DNA sequencing technology to allow for the personalized discovery of disease-causing microorganisms. This rapid precision infectious disease discovery would guide better patient treatment and improve health outcomes, according to the startup.

Delfina

San Francisco-based Delfina is a maternal telehealth company that remotely monitors pregnant women to assess health risks and collaborates with providers to produce a personalized care plan. The startup partners with OBGYN providers to offer its services to their patients in an effort to lower the country’s maternal mortality rate, which is the highest among all developed nations. The company also has offices in New York City and Rochester, Minnesota.

Dynocardia

Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Dynocardia uses wearable technology to track real-world continuous blood pressure and other advanced heart function measures. It created ViTrack, a cuff-less wearable that enables non-invasive blood pressure measurement and leverages AI for the early detection of heart issues to prevent serious health events.

ImpriMed, Predicta Med, and SOAP Health round out the list of start-ups getting a leg up with Mayo.

With the popularity of wearables medical devices Dynocardia should have some immediate results with their investment. But of course, that remains to be seen.

read more at medcitynews.com