When the time came for our data-science wizards to conjure their secret batch of spell-binding startups, their AI crystal ball revealed quite an interesting phenomenon. An alliance of scientist-entrepreneurial teams is on the rise, taking the startup realm by storm.
Med-tech startups now deliver faster, effective and more accurate diagnosis that empowers people to take health into their own hands. The result of this union, you may ask? Everything from tech wearables that analyze your sweat to nanotechnology that aids neuropathic pain. There is a long list of game-changers out there, but here are the early stage med-tech startups our algorithms picked of founders who previously raised over $1billion combined.
We’ve got an ex-Harvard Postdoc using T-cell engineering and synthetic biotechnology to combat autoimmune disease. Former Advanced Cell Diagnostics and Panomics Inc. execs developing antibody technologies for early detection of chronic diseases. Last but not least, an established clinical research scientist, Trellis Rx founders, and former IBM exec are improving patients’ medical experience through clinical trials.
Buckle up for some life-changing med-tech startups coming your way!
Daring to venture with autoimmune diseases
Autoimmune diseases are some of the most stubborn areas in medicine, where the immune system turns against the body itself. Founded in California in 2018, BAIT Therapeutics ventures to focus on this very same challenging scope of medicine. Leveraging T-cell engineering and synthetic biotechnology, this venture-backed startup is innovating cell-based therapeutics to defeat autoreactive immune cells, the culprit for these persistent diseases.
Founding Team
This highly specialized job requires a similarly highly seasoned expert, and this is what we find in Chief Scientific Officer Jeffrey Greve. Molecular Biology PhD holder from Washington University in St. Louis, and ex-Postdoc fellow at Harvard Medical School, Jeffrey has the research and academic record for this mission. His entrepreneurial experience, however, is no less of a match.
In 2014, Jeffrey founded Delinia, a company built around a similar goal of fighting autoimmune diseases. In 2017, it was acquired for $300 million upfront and up to $475 million in milestones by biotechnology giant Celgene, where Jeffrey became Chief Scientist. He was also VP Research at biotherapeutics company aTyr Pharma Inc., Executive Director of Stem Cell Sciences at Exelixis, and Director of Research at Bayer Biotechnology.
With so far a secret team of less than 10 people, BAIT is currently focused on hiring. The requirements are no joke and are highly demanding of expertise, but we know these prospective members will have a lot to learn from this founder and his transformative mission. We would apply, but we might be a PhD or two short on these qualifications.
Who loves early detection tech? Antibody?
While many med-tech startups are tackling different stages of curing developed diseases, this startup focuses its efforts on early detection and treatment. A member of the California Life Sciences Association — the state’s largest life sciences advocacy — Alamar Biosciences was founded in 2018 to develop antibody technologies for the diagnosis of diseases like cancer, for which the best cure can be early enough detection. According to a Cancer Research UK study, more than 90 percent of patients diagnosed early (stage one) survive most common types of cancer. Survival drops to 25 percent for those diagnosed in stages two or three, and falls to five percent in stage four.
Founding Team
This is a team that goes way back in building life science products and developing med-tech solutions. Chairman and CEO Yuling Luo is a guru in his field. He co-founded genomics company Advanced Cell Diagnostics Inc. in 2006, which was acquired 10 years later by biotechnology giant Bio-Techne for $250 million upfront and up to $75 million in milestones. He was also Founder & VP of another successful genomics company, Panomics Inc., acquired by Affymetrix in 2008 for approximately $73 million. It just seems as though everything he touches turns into life science gold. He has a PhD in Biochemistry from Case Western Reserve University, and you can view a number of brilliant scientific patents he is listed under.
It also appears that COO Steve Chen played a big part in Yuling’s journey as former CTO of Panomics and co-founder of Advanced Cell Diagnostics. Steve also had an apt academic route. He has a PhD from the University of London in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. He was Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland where he conducted research in the field of optical sensors. Is assembling a startup more enjoyable than academia? He’ll have to tweet to us and let us know!
Alamar’s R&D Director, Yiyuan Yin, has over 10 years of experience in antibody and protein engineering. She has a PhD in Structural Biology from the University of Maryland where she served as a faculty and graduate research assistant. She was also a postdoc fellow at Genentech (a subsidiary of Roche), and supervised antibody engineering as a Research Scientist at NGM Biopharmaceuticals. What exactly do antibodies do? Well, it’s put simply in this illustration.
Overcoming clinical trials’ traditional hurdles
Lightship is another startup that promises to better patients’ medical experience. The 2018 California-based startup provides enterprise level, direct-to-patient clinical trial solutions. Lightship engages patients at home and aspires to eliminate the challenges and inefficiencies of traditional approaches.
Founding Team
A team that gathers the best of both science and business is a team that surely is as strong as the Ghostbuster squad.
With 10+ years of experience in clinical research at academic institutions and startups, Samantha Eells is the team’s science head and VP of Business Operations and Customer Success. As former VP of Clinical Solutions and Founding COO at Science 37, Samantha was responsible for everything from clinical trials and FDA regulatory planning, to business development strategy and operations. She held research positions at UCLA, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute, and Emory University. Samantha studied Epidemiology at UCLA’s doctoral program. She also has a master’s in Public Health from Emory University.
CTO and Founding Executive, Zaher El Assi, had spent much of his time globetrotting to explore new growth market opportunities for clinical research. As ex-VP at Kika Clinical Solutions, he led its successful acquisition by Merge Healthcare (an IBM company) where he landed international partnerships and spearheaded new market expansion. He was also VP of GTM Transformation at IBM Watson Health.
Brian Lovett and fellow Lightship co-founder Alon Krashinsky previously built Trellis Rx, a Francisco Partners tech startup that helps hospitals design world-class specialty pharmacies. They both did their MBA at Stanford. Brian worked at Merrill Lynch, Apple, Pacific Growth Equities and D.A. Davidson and Co.
Lightship’s Launch CEO, Alon, is a serial entrepreneur and investor. As VP at Accretive for 10 years, he led the expansion of the VC firm into higher education and co-founded Everspring, an online educational services startup. He was also an investor at Arise Virtual Solutions where he served on the Board. He is former Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company. He is currently an Advisor to both Landmark Health and Avalon Healthcare Solutions where he’s also a Board Member.
As sorcerers, we’re proud of the role magic had in medicine, whether through curing potions or magical healing spells (think every Harry Potter character surviving insane battles). However, it seems as though med-tech is approaching us as close competition. You think we need more of the scientist-entrepreneur hybrids? Share your thoughts with us!
How do we shortlist companies?
Aingel’s Sorcerer is designed to help you discover great startups early.
Here is how we do it in a nutshell. First, we use different sources and automated tools to detect new startups early. Then, we analyze and filter for startups that score high on our proprietary predictive algorithm. The algo was developed at NYU by Aingel’s co-founders.
Founding teams data include educational background, work history, startup experience and personality. We deduce character traits using AI from founders’ digital footprint. We also analyze aggregate team experience and composition.
The list above is further curated after analyzing types of startups to make sure they are VC-friendly. Startups do not pay to be listed.
This post is published after The Sorcerer is first sent to our subscribers fresh from the spellbook!
Got some bedazzling feedback for our Sorcerers? A wicked tip for our newsletter? Drop us a line at sorcerer@aingel.ai
