MedTech Innovator unveils 2024 grand prize finalists

MedTech Innovator, one of the most significant startup accelerator programs in the medical device industry, announced the five companies will be finalists for the grand prize in this year’s program.

Each finalist, announced yesterday, gets $25,000. They’ll compete for the $350,000 non-dilutive grand prize at AdvaMed’s The MedTech Conference, Oct. 15–17, in Toronto.

The final competition, to be held Oct. 16 at 4 p.m. Eastern time in the AdvaMed event’s keynote theater, will have the five startups making their pitches and answering questions from a panel of experts from some of the largest medical device companies in the world. The conference audience then votes in real time for the winners.

The five 2024 Early-Stage Grand Prize finalists are:

• BrainSpace (Seattle): This company’s wearable continuous ICP monitor and automated CSF drain technology is meant to free up ICU beds and generate AI-ready data.
• Flow Medical (Chicago): The company says its next-generation PE thrombolysis catheter is designed for infusing thrombolytic agents and real-time hemodynamic monitoring to personalize medicine for each patient. Medtech serial entrepreneur Jennifer Fried joined last year as co-founder and CEO. Here’s what she told MDO about the technology at the time.
• Juniper Biomedical (Worcester, Massachusetts): This unique, implantable neuromodulation platform could dramatically improve the treatment of urinary incontinence and other pelvic health conditions.
• NeuroBionics (Cambridge, Massachusetts): The company, through its device for minimally-invasive endovascular deep brain stimulation, seeks to enhance stroke rehabilitation outcomes for patients.
• Samay (Mountain View, California and Medellín, Colombia): Acoustic resonance patches for COPD diagnosis, management, and intervention

“We spend the entire year working closely with the industry’s leading medtech companies to curate and accelerate market access for the world’s best-of-the-best medtech startups, and this year we selected 45 out of 1,400 applicants for the early-stage cohort of our US market-focused accelerator,” MedTech Innovator founder and CEO Paul Grand said in a news release. “After four months of mentoring, the senior leadership at our strategic partners championed 29 of their top mentees with only ten finalist slots in our two competitions, so you know these startups truly embody the potential to dramatically improve healthcare delivery and outcomes for millions of patients worldwide.”

MedTech Innovator also announced five companies that will compete for a $25,000 Execution Award to be selected by The Medtech Conference audience:

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

MedTech Innovator brought in more than 500 subject matter experts to evaluate thousands of applicants and mentor its best-in-class 65 companies participating in the four-month U.S. market-focused accelerator program.

Over the years, the program has fostered more than 700 medtech companies, represented 350 FDA approvals and clearances, and secured over $8 billion in follow-on funding for participants.