MedTech Innovator presents the 2024 Grand Prize Finalists

MedTech Innovator, one of the most important startup acceleration programs in the medical devices industry, announced that five companies will be finalists for the main prize in this year’s program.

Each finalist, announced yesterday, will receive $25,000. They will compete for a non-diluted grand prize of $350,000 at AdvaMed’s MedTech conference, which will take place October 15-17 in Toronto.

In the final competition, which will take place on October 16 at 4 p.m. ET in the Keynote Theater during the AdvaMed event, five startups will present their proposals and answer questions from a panel of experts from the world’s largest medical device manufacturers. The conference audience then votes in real time for the winners.

The five Early Stage 2024 Grand Prize finalists are:

• BrainSpace (Seattle): Portable continuous ICP monitor and automatic CSF drainage. This technology is intended to free up beds in intensive care units and generate data ready for use in artificial intelligence.
• Flow Medical (Chicago): next-generation PE thrombolysis catheter. The company says the innovative design aims to administer thrombolytic agents and monitor hemodynamics in real time to personalize medication for each patient. (Serial Medtech entrepreneur Jennifer Fried joined the company last year as co-founder and CEO. Here’s what she said MDO about the technology of that time.)
• Juniper Biomedical (Worcester, Mass.): unique implantable neuromodulation platform. The idea is to dramatically improve the treatment of urinary incontinence and other pelvic conditions.
• NeuroBionics (Cambridge, Mass.): minimally invasive intravascular deep brain stimulation device. Through its device, the company tries to improve the rehabilitation outcomes of stroke patients.
• Samay (Mountain View, California and Medellín, Colombia): Acoustic resonance patches for COPD diagnosis, treatment and intervention.

“At MTI, we work closely with industry-leading health technology companies throughout the year to secure and accelerate market access for the best of the best health technology startups in the world, and this year we selected 45 of 1,400 early program applicants stage cohort of our accelerator focused on the US market,” said MedTech Innovator founder and CEO Paul Grand in a press release. “After four months of mentoring, senior executives at our strategic partners have backed 29 of their top mentees, earning just 10 finalist spots across our two competitions, so you know these startups truly embody the potential to dramatically improve healthcare delivery and outcomes for millions patients all over the world.”

MedTech Innovator also announced the five companies that will compete for a $25,000 implementation prize chosen by the Medtech conference audience:

• AccurKardia (New York): ECG-based diagnostics software unlocking the value of the ECG signal for a wide range of disease diagnosis and treatment.
• Akeyna (Boston): Described as a unique smart needle that detects blood vessels to prevent serious complications such as blindness that can occur when blood vessels are accidentally occluded by dermal fillers.
• iCE Neurosystems (Washington): A comprehensive device and data platform that will transform brain care for critically ill patients.
• SanaHeal (Cambridge, Mass.): a novel bioadhesive biomaterial platform for the treatment of bleeding, wounds and mechanical integration of devices into the human body.
• Vonova (San Diego): A minimally invasive platform for the treatment of chronic neurological disorders without the risk and expense of skull drilling.

This year, the MedTech Innovator program engaged over 500 subject matter experts who evaluated thousands of candidates and served as mentors for 65 best-in-class companies participating in MTI’s flagship four-month accelerator program focused on the US market.

Over the years, the program has supported over 700 health technology companies, achieved 350 FDA approvals and clearances, and provided over $8 billion in follow-on funding to participants.

(Photo courtesy of MedTech Innovator)