US Army, Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium Collaborate with Los Angeles-based Accelerator
Sara Langdon | August 13, 2018
There is currently a major push to streamline the acquisition process and to better engage and partner with private industry in an effort to place cutting-edge technology quickly into the hands of the Warfighter. In support of this push, the US Army Medical Research and Materiel Command has connected with the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium, a nonprofit biomedical technology consortium, through an Other Transaction Agreement to streamline acquisition, and join industry, academia and other organizations to collectively share resources and expertise for military medical technologies.
Seeking companies with novel and innovative solutions for military medical needs, the USAMRMC and MTEC collaborated with MedTech Innovator to enhance the military’s engagement within the medical technology space, both with early stage startups as well as with medical device manufacturers. MedTech Innovator is a global medical device accelerator with a history of success — in the past five years the consortium has reviewed more than 2,000 early-stage companies and graduated 135 companies from its programs. Combined those companies have raised more than $540M in funding, with 24 of them commercially launching products.
Tapping into its existing network, MedTech Innovator hosted a Military Pitch Event on June 19 at LIM Innovations in Silicon Valley, CA. The event was designed to introduce startups to DOD funding opportunities and allowed USAMRMC and MTEC to identify promising technologies in combat casualty care. Eight highly scored startups were selected to present to a panel of 17 expert judges that included impact investors, commercial manufacturers, subject matter experts and USAMRMC stakeholders.
CoLabs, Inc., a Carmel, CA-based company, presented Ventor, a device that could enable blind intubation and ventilation for casualties on the battlefield, and was unanimously selected as the top pitch.
