CancerX Inaugural Startup Accelerator Cohort Graduates

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Aug 01, 2024, 08:00 ET

16 startups advance digital innovation to improve cancer research and care

BOSTON, Aug. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today marks the culmination of the first cohort of the CancerX Accelerator, led by CancerX co-hosts Moffitt Cancer Center and the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), in partnership with MassChallenge. For four months, 16 startups collaborated with Accelerator Champions, Mentors, federal partners, and CancerX members across the healthcare ecosystem to test and validate their digital innovation solutions and increase their impact on improving the lives of cancer patients.

The CancerX Accelerator is the only accelerator program focused on digital innovation in cancer research and care. It uniquely brings together a community of champions, innovators, and users of digital health in oncology to scale ideas that have the potential to solve unmet needs in clinical care, save lives, and improve the experience of cancer patients and their caregivers.

The 16 startups graduating the inaugural cohort are: The Blue Box, C the Signs, Cancer Insights, Curiva, EnteroTrack, Gesund.ai, Gray, Lind AI, Mika, Navya, Oatmeal Health, Orbit Genomics, Realyze Intelligence, Reimagine Care, SurvivorPlan, and XanthosHealth.

The program, launched in October 2023, attracted 100+ applicants that were judged by 70+ judges to arrive at the final cohort of 16 companies. Ten organizations served as Champions for this program, offering time and mentorship, as well as a chance to engage in pilots, sign commercial contracts or receive investments from them. In addition, the program leveraged the rich CancerX community to match startups with mentors from a pool of 60+ mentors from the community.

"Participating in the CancerX Accelerator has proven pivotal in testing and deploying our technology at the world's most innovative cancer centers," said Tarun Kumar, Co-founder and CEO, Cancer Insights. "We received 4 months of targeted curriculum, curated based on expertise from leading Cancer Centers as well as technology and investment experts like Debiopharm, Oncology Ventures, Intel, Dell, Reveal HealthTech etc. Our Champions also worked hard to get us positive outcomes in a very short amount of time. As an example, our champion health system (Moffitt Cancer Center) was able to move from first demo to a signed contract with us in less than three months!"

"After validating our AI solution for patients and experts, we were focused on scaling the adoption of our capabilities among other centers to impact more patients. Through the Accelerator, we partnered with Moffitt Cancer Center to identify a new use case for our product that overcomes a burden for Moffitt and the patients that they serve," said Naresh Ramarajan, MD, Co-Founder, Chief Medical Officer, Navya Network, Inc. "CancerX has not only afforded us a partnership with Moffitt, which shares our vision of scaling access to expertise, but also connected us with mentors in the fields of clinical trial matching, community oncology, and leveraging oncology datasets, all of which are crucial for our continued success and growth and will ultimately enhance cancer care delivery and patient outcomes."

The 4-month program has resulted in several positive outcomes including 4+ definitive contracts, 3 LOIs, 2 investment decisions and at least 50+ meetings with frontline healthcare workers.

"As a co-host and a champion, we have taken our responsibilities seriously, of setting the standard for how we want startups to be championed," said Xavier Avat, Chief Business Officer at Moffitt Cancer Center. "Our team secured numerous definitive agreements and created meaningful connections. Even when we said 'no', we did it in a way that was meaningful and productive for the startups. Based on our experience, we believe that this accelerator can meaningfully bridge the gaps by providing technologies for entrenched problems that we face as health systems daily".

"Aside from being able to attract a large number of companies from across the globe, this accelerator also has perhaps the most diverse set of leaders accepted into the program," added Dr. Doug Mirsky, Vice President, DiMe "with over 50% of founders being BIPOC, women and first-time founders, we've been able to and look to continue to add much needed diversity of voice and perspective to digital innovation in cancer care."

"Today is another important milestone for CancerX, celebrating the startups that will bring us closer to achieving the nation's Cancer Moonshot goals," said Stephen Konya, Senior Advisor to the Deputy National Coordinator, and Innovation Portfolio Lead for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). "The potential to win the battle against cancer is within our grasp. These Accelerator graduates have worked tirelessly over the past few months to build relationships and strengthen the products and services that will change the lives of cancer patients. Now, we're excited to see how these efforts positively impact the lives of cancer patients and their families."

After the incredible success of the first cohort, CancerX is excited to announce that submissions for Cohort 2025 will open this fall. If you want to participate in the next CancerX Accelerator as a Startup, Champion, or Mentor, sign up here to be the first to hear about these opportunities.

About CancerX: Announced by The White House Cancer Moonshot in February 2023, CancerX is a public-private partnership to boost innovation in the fight against cancer. Co-hosted by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe ) and Moffitt Cancer Center, alongside the Office for the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) and Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), it convenes the many diverse stakeholders needed to unleash the power of innovation to create a future that's free of cancer burden. To learn more or participate in CancerX's pre-competitive, evidence-generating efforts; Accelerator cohort, or demonstration projects, visit www.cancerx.health.

Media Contacts: Carla English, [email protected]

SOURCE Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)