Cedars-Sinai Blog
Demo Day Highlights Healthcare Innovation
This week, the 8 healthcare startups that made up the 4th class of the Cedars-Sinai Accelerator Powered by Techstars gathered to showcase their ideas and pitch to potential investors as part of Demo Day.
The companies have spent the last 3 months working with Cedars-Sinai mentors and advisers to develop their products and services, all of which focus on improving healthcare delivery and solving existing problems.
Demo Day marks the end of the incubator program for the companies and gives them an opportunity to highlight their progress to an audience of investors, mentors, and leaders in the healthcare field. Having worked out their nerves with days of practice, each company took the stage in the Silver Theater at the Pacific Design Center to present their work.
First to take the stage was KelaHealth, a platform that uses machine learning to help predict potential surgical complications in order to improve patient outcomes. They were followed by Sopris Health, a company that is working to automate the cumbersome process of physician documentation with the goal of allowing doctors to spend more time with patients. Both companies also announced contracts with Cedars-Sinai.
Next up was MedPilot, which supports health system billing departments by using data science and behavioral targeting to engage patients and resolve outstanding balances. They were followed by Relatable, which aims to streamline medical device purchasing.
"One thing about the companies in this class that really impressed me was the variety of technological solutions they were pursuing."
Presentations continued with a pitch from Digital Medical Tech founder Matthew Nicholson, who shared that years spent looking for missing medical equipment inspired the Bluetooth medical device tracking platform offered by the company.
Following Digital Medical Tech was Alis Health, which offers a full-service, on-demand digital clinic for women, and Cardio Cube, an at-home support tool for patients with chronic heart disease. Last to the stage was Nicolette co-founder Phil Martie, who shared that the NICU parenting app was inspired by his own experience as a NICU parent.
"One thing about the companies in this class that really impressed me was the variety of technological solutions they were pursuing," said Jim Laur, Cedars-Sinai vice president of Technology and Business Affairs. "From tracking equipment to assisting healthcare providers in clinical settings, each company is working to solve problems that all health systems struggle with."
In addition to months of valuable guidance from hospital staff and leadership, as well as workspace next to the medical center, each company received $120,000 in seed money. Several of the companies are also leaving the program with contracts to continue working with Cedars-Sinai.
