From a digital health platform for women’s clinics to a virtual scheduling assistant, nine startups have been named to the Roux Institute’s new health tech accelerator program.
The year-long residency program, funded by Northern Light Health and MaineHealth in partnership with the Maine Venture Fund, will be based at the institute’s campus in Portland.
To help take their ideas to the next level, each participant will receive a $50,000 investment along with programming, mentoring and institutional support. The Roux Institute is also taking an equity stake in each participating company.
Out of applications from 13 countries and a dozen states, nine companies were selected for the starting lineup.
Representing Maine are Apriqot, a Scarborough-based startup that aims to improve better public health outcomes with better data; and EmTech Care Labs, a Portland-based company developing a digital platform to help families manage home-based long-term care. (Scroll down for the full list of nine participants).
The accelerator is a spinoff of the Roux Institute’s Founder Residency, which focuses on people of color, LGBTQ+ and women-led companies, to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in Maine’s health tech economy.
“If you think about life sciences in Massachusetts, it wasn’t necessarily there 50 years ago, but the pieces were there,” said Ben Chesler, director of venture creation and acceleration at the Roux Institute. “We view this as taking the first step of creating that thriving healthtech sector here in Maine.”
Among participants from foreign countries, Canada-based PragmaClin is a cloud-based patient monitoring and assessment tool for Parkinson’s disease; while Stratos Medical of Galway, Ireland, is pioneering a product for “the next generation of hemodialysis,” a process of purifying the blood of a person whose kidneys are not working normally.
“We look forward to the creative energy and inspiration of these founders to spark solutions, when successfully brought to market, that will improve the lives of patients and caregivers in Maine and across the country,” said Hugh Jones, senior vice president and chief strategy officer of Northern Light Health. “In choosing to pursue their passions here at the Roux, we know they will also be contributors to expanding Maine’s increasingly vibrant and diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem.”