Health-Tech Startups Join Cedars-Sinai’s Eighth Accelerator Class

Newswise — LOS ANGELES (Aug. 23, 2022) — The Cedars-Sinai Accelerator is welcoming 10 health-tech startup companies from around the world to its eighth accelerator class. The companies are building a variety of healthcare solutions—from culturally-appropriate digital mental health services to wearable devices that help patients manage chronic asthma.

After going entirely virtual in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the accelerator launched a hybrid model in 2021. Continuing this year, the hybrid model allows company leaders to choose whether to attend in person at Cedars-Sinai or virtually.

During the three-month term, company representatives collaborate with doctors, researchers and administrators to understand how their products and solutions work in a real-world environment to benefit patients, clinicians and hospitals.

“Promising new technologies and advances in the digital space can drive positive change in how healthcare is experienced,” said James Laur, JD, vice president of Intellectual Property and managing director of Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures, and one of the founders of the accelerator. “As one of the nation’s top-ranked hospitals, Cedars-Sinai recognizes the importance of innovation. Bringing this new class of companies into the accelerator allows us to partner with entrepreneurs who are working on problems that we are trying to solve as a healthcare provider.”

Each business accepted into the program will receive a $100,000 investment from Cedars-Sinai. At the conclusion of the three-month program, company leaders will share their progress with an audience of investors, mentors, potential customers and members of the news media at a Demo Day.

“Providing strategic and operational insights early on in development are key to enabling healthcare innovations,” said Nirdesh K. Gupta, PhD, managing director of Cedars-Sinai Technology Ventures. “Our accelerator provides that vital partnership to early-stage companies that are developing solutions that health systems need to provide high-quality, safe and efficient care for patients.”

The eighth Cedars-Sinai Accelerator class includes:

Acolyte Health—Using voice and face recognition software, Acolyte creates tailored video content, including preventive healthcare, pre- and post-visit education, reminders and more, which is delivered securely to patients on the device of their choice. Patients using the interactive videos can take immediate action, resulting in better outcomes, like reduced readmissions, increased medication adherence and increased patient satisfaction.

Aevice Health—Aevice Health has created an artificial intelligence-powered wearable device that continuously monitors key biomarkers of respiratory diseases like asthma. Chronic diseases like asthma account for 25% of emergency department visits, mainly due to patients’ lack of objective data to help them assess disease progression at home. With the device, the company’s goal is to empower patients to manage their condition, optimizing the affordability of healthcare and hospital resources.

Iodine—Aidin has created a digital healthcare workflow platform that helps to streamline and structure hospital workflows, helping case managers accomplish daily tasks faster and transition patients to trusted care providers. The company aims to help reduce patients’ length of stay, manage staff assignments and address delays in real time.

Candlelit Therapy Inc.—Candlelit Therapy Inc. is a digital mental health provider for underserved new and expectant parents at risk of perinatal mood and anxiety conditions. Candlelit Therapy’s perinatal mental health service is rooted in cultural competency, celebrates Black identity and offers an easy way to access culturally based treatment while helping obstetricians, nurse midwives and birth workers proactively screen and manage life-threatening conditions in a more culturally appropriate and affirming way.

GattaCo—GattaCo’s A-PON Plasma Separator eliminates the need for bulky equipment currently needed for most blood tests. The A-PON is a self-collection device that uses fingerstick blood to produce lab-quality liquid plasma. Plasma is the most widely used sample type in clinical lab testing to detect and monitor medical conditions, diseases or therapy responses.

HealthLeap Inc.—HealthLeap Inc. offers an artificial intelligence-enabled clinical nutrition app, NutriLeap, that helps healthcare professionals prevent and treat malnutrition. The app helps hospital dietitians make precise nutritional calculations and provides recommendations based on the most up-to-date clinical guidelines.

Light—Luminare has created a digital platform that aims to accelerate the speed of sepsis detection in order to save lives, reduce alert fatigue, and increase revenue through improved clinical documentation.

Shift—Shift provides learner-focused nurse training through virtual reality, real-time adjustments and insight. The company’s growing library focuses on advancing health equity, nurse onboarding, infection prevention, and mandatory trainings. Female-founded ShifBias aims to reduce the amount of time, money and staff resources needed for nurse training and give nurses the tools to improve patient outcomes.

Simi—Siimee has created a recruiting platform that directly connects job seekers and employers by creating a one-to-one matching experience, highlighting users’ backgrounds and interests to opportunities, while educating employers with the aim of eliminating early biases that historically occur in the recruiting process.

Syntho—Syntho provides artificial intelligence-based privacy-enhancing technology to generate anonymous synthetic data points. These data points are then used by medical researchers in a variety of research projects.

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