One Year Later... Where Are They Now?
Each week we introduce you to new members of the StartUp Health community. In this progress report, we check back in with companies profiled in 2023 and see how they've fared. We also asked them this bonus question: "What is one thing that helped you survive, sustain, or grow over the last 12 months?"
Harmonics of Innovation
Recently I interviewed Nathan Intrator, PhD, a member of StartUp Health’s Alzheimer’s Moonshot Community, about his company Neurosteer. He and his team have developed a brain scanning device that could be groundbreaking for folks with Alzheimer’s disease. Before launching Neurosteer, Nathan studied dolphins and bats and became an expert in how their brains processed signals. That led to a discovery about human brains. To explain it to me, he conjured the image of an orchestra.
If you’re sitting in the orchestra pit right next to the second chair violinist, you’re going to get a narrow understanding of the music. If, instead, you sit in the middle of the concert hall, your ears will take in every instrument at once, giving you a blended, holistic experience. This, says Nathan, is how brain signals work, and is why listening to the “harmonics” in the brain, not merely individual signals, results in better brain analysis.
His story has stuck with me, and is a reminder of what makes the ordinary extraordinary among our global community of founders. Let me explain.
In our fourteenth print edition of StartUp Health Magazine, we added a new section. It’s a “where are they now” send up, only instead of talking about child actors from the 80s we’re looking at the startups we profiled in 2023. We asked companies to share big milestones since we featured them a year ago. We got responses like “integrated new hardware into the platform,” and “had a successful pre-FDA meeting,” and “landed a new distribution partner.” Read them below.
These may not seem like juicy headlines if taken alone. They’re just single notes. And yet, taken collectively, they are extraordinary because they’re part of a longer song. The startup journey is arduous, with peaks and valleys and only by stopping to celebrate the milestones – small as they may seem – can we appreciate the grander picture.
They’re also extraordinary because they’re part of an orchestra playing the same tune. When the daily milestones of startup life occur within a supportive network that is working towards the same health goals, that progress is placed in context and is amplified. Each individual note – the second chair flute or the T1D app – might sound small on its own. But taken as a whole, harmonizing and amplifying, the rhythm of progress becomes something else, something strong, meaningful and effective. A song that can change the world.
– Logan Plaster, StartUp Health Chief Content Officer
Editor's Note: Exposure in StartUp Health Media to our global audience of investors and partners – including our magazine and YouTube channel – is a benefit of StartUp Health's PRO Membership. Read about how you can join and increase brand awareness through our multi-media storytelling efforts.
Ambrosia Systems
2023 Headline: Ambrosia Systems Is Designing an Affordable Non-Invasive CGM for Low-Resource Settings
2024 Update: "Our biggest achievement has been integrating FreeStyle Libre 3 into our platform and developing a new technology that predicts glucose levels up to 60 minutes in advance, significantly enhancing patient care and proactive diabetes management."
What helped you grow? "Continuous innovation and strong customer relationships have fueled our growth."
Diatech Diabetes
2023 Headline: Diatech Diabetes Upgrades Diabetes Care Through AI-Powered Infusion Monitoring
2024 Update: "We had a very successful first FDA pre-submission meeting, we raised $150,000 in funding, launched a large national market survey with 600+ responses, and were one of the winners of the 2024 American Diabetes Association's Innovation Challenge."
What helped you grow? "Obtaining advising from veteran founders who faced similar challenges."
Difinity Solutions
2023 Headline: Difinity Solutions Introduces the First Modular, Multi-Dose Emergency Medication Delivery System
2024 Update: "Following feedback with SMEs/FDA, we implemented a major design change. From an engineering and financial perspective, it was challenging but absolutely the right thing to do. We are better positioned than ever to deliver a true platform technology for medication delivery as a combination product."
What helped you grow? "100% the team. We came out stronger than before!"
DreaMed
2023 Headline: DreaMed Simplifies Diabetes Care via AI-Driven Recommendations
2024 Update: "We expanded in YNHHS to its family medicine clinics, raised a $3M financing round led by eHealth Ventures, and signed a data integration agreement with Abbott for our endo.digital platform."
What helped you grow? "The right dedicated team at the right time."
Enhance-d
2023 Headline: Enhance-d Delivers Digital Diabetes Management Tools Previously Reserved for Elite Athletes
2024 Update: "Hyper-focus on exercise! We listened to our early users and decided to focus in an area where they were not getting (much-needed) support from any other system. Feedback has so far been outstanding!"
What helped you grow? "A solid and resilient team, bootstrapping and small angel investors."
EqualityMD
2023 Headline: EqualityMD’s Digital Health Platform Is Changing How the LGBTQ+ Community Perceives & Receives Care
2024 Update: "Secured new channel distribution partners; completed three corporate fellowships; graduated from Halcyon’s inaugural social impact healthcare accelerator; finalized 'LGBTQ+ data pivot' which enables us to advance health equity at scale and provides exciting exit opportunities."
What helped you grow? "Steadfast support from the LGBTQ+ community."
GO-Pen
2023 Headline: GO-Pen Is Designing Safe, Reusable Insulin Pens That Are Accessible for All
2024 Update: "Engaged in active FDA and CE mark dialogues. Poised for global distribution addressing a growing demand driven by poor socioeconomic conditions."
What helped you grow? "Clear vision and a little help from our friends."
Greens App
2023 Headline: The Greens App Scales Diabetes Management with a Focus on Teens from Vulnerable Communities
2024 Update: "Greens Health has secured backing from Blue Cross Blue Shield for our approach to health equity and diabetes management. This achievement has been instrumental in validating our work and propelling our growth."
What helped you grow? "The startup community and team members are a constant source of encouragement."
HealthBook+
2023 Headline: HealthBook+ Empowers Patients with Personalized Health Data and Predictive Analytics
2024 Update: "HealthBook+ has overcome major bumps and has pivoted to focusing on DPC and concierge clinics where we have seen great early traction."
What helped you grow? "Deciding to pivot and be laser focused on DPC."
IndyGeneUs
2023 Headline: IndyGeneUS AI Is Bringing Genomic Medicine to Underrepresented Populations
2024 Update: "Secured an exclusive sequencing agreement with Africa's only certified biobank, Aurum Institute, enabling their South African team to sequence up to 3 million samples in their genomics lab in Johannesburg, South Africa."
What helped you grow? "Cultivating relationships in alignment with our mission and vision are paramount."
In-Range Animation
2023 Headline: In-Range Animation Uses Micro-Learning to Improve Diabetes Education
2024 Update: "In July, In-Range Animation began a project with DiabetesWise to educate people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes on insulin patch pumps. We are excited about the partnership and the opportunity to work with a fellow T1D Moonshot company."
What helped you grow? "Our focus narrowed from general diabetes education to device education."
InsulLoc
2023 Headline: InsulLoc Is Combining AI and Computer Vision to Identify Safe Injection Sites for Insulin
2024 Update: "Won a European grant from EIT for clinical trials at Coimbra Hospital, Portugal. Started talking with a European key player in diabetes for using our app for their clients."
What helped you grow? "Keeping our expenses very low and our mindset high."
Joydays
2023 Headline: Meet Joydays: All the Sweet without the Spike
2024 Update: "Working on how to reach the T2 diabetes consumer, who is less apt to change habits of what they buy on shelf. It's not about being on the diabetes shelf at Walmart, it's about getting their families to refer them or push them to purchase healthier items."
What helped you grow? "Starting to realize it was important to carve out time for myself, and prioritize that just as I would any meetings for my company that day. It has to come first."
MIIST
2023 Headline: MIIST Therapeutics Brings a Modern Approach to Fighting Nicotine Addiction
2024 Update: "Our most significant achievement has been obtaining incredibly strong phase 1 clinical trial results in early '24. We are well capitalized to now advance our smoking cessation inhaler through phase 2 trials."
What helped you grow? "Have a culture that values execution, irrespective of the market."
Pramana Pharmaceuticals
2023 Headline: Pramana’s Biotech Discoveries Could Spark a Revolution in Type 1 Diabetes Management
2024 Update: "We’ve pivoted to focus on Latent Autoimmune Disease in Adults (LADA), driven by breakthrough preclinical data for a once-daily oral Hypoglycemia treatment. Our mission is to modulate the disease and prevent misdiagnosed patients from developing diabetes."
What helped you grow? "Enabling a mission driven team with resilience, tenacity and perseverance."
QuLab
2023 Headline: QuLab’s Nano-technology Monitors Multiple Metabolites on One Minimally-Invasive Patch
2024 Update: "We have pivoted to Continuous Lactate Monitoring (CLM) for professional and recreational athletes and have obtained very promising safety and efficacy results in our First-in-Human trial for our CLM patch."
What helped you grow? "The continued support of our investors and our secured grants."
Replica Health
2023 Headline: Replica Health Is Simplifying Type 1 Diabetes Management with Conversational AI
2024 Update: "We've pivoted away from our consumer application being the primary focus, and have reoriented as a research lab building modular AI/ML components that are licensed by medical device and pharma companies. Super proud of each new partnership this year, and excited for what comes next!"
What helped you grow? "Adapting to market needs without forgetting our long term objectives."
Rezq Bio
2023 Headline: Rezq Bio’s Dendritic Cell Therapy Offers Hope in the Fight Against Autoimmune Disorders
2024 Update: "We've added a new application of our lead therapy to our portfolio. As it acts as a localized immunosuppressant, we are combining our therapy with islet cell implants/transplants to reduce the requirement for systemic immunosuppression. A study is upcoming with Dr. James Shapiro."
What helped you grow? "Team cohesiveness and trust has allowed us to survive and grow over the last 12 months."
Zinacare
2023 Headline: Zinacare Makes Healthcare More Accessible in Africa Through At-Home Testing Services
2024 Update: "By July of this year we’d already surpassed 2023 revenues and are on track to double our sales. We’ve started servicing B2B."
What helped you grow? "Honing in on our core revenue generator, which improved our product and operations, and ultimately our bottom line."
Call for Innovation
Are You Ready to Find Your Tribe?
We’re looking for founders and CEOs leading digital health, life science, or biotech companies that are solving the biggest health challenges of our time – and want to build a better network to change the world. Our communities include: Access to Care, Addiction & Opioid Crisis, Alzheimer’s Disease, Cardiometabolic Health, Children’s Health, End Cancer, Food as Medicine, Healthy Longevity, Mental Health, Oral Health, Rare Diseases, Respiratory Health, Type 1 Diabetes, and Women's Health.
If you’re mission-driven, collaborative, and ready to contribute as much as you gain, you might be the perfect fit. Learn more and apply today.
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