More than $ 60,000 in seed money and services awarded
BUFFALO, NY – Opollo Technologies, a fintech startup for AI in healthcare, took first place in the University of the Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technological Entrepreneurship (Panasci TEC) competition on April 9 in Buffalo.
Ryan Young, MD / MBA ’21, and Anders Rosén, MBA ’21, will receive $ 27,000 in seed and in-kind contributions to their Opollo Technologies LLC business.
Opollo ™ is a machine learning algorithm that uses medical natural language processing to predict the duration of surgery two to three times more accurately than existing methods. The cloud-based platform for artificial intelligence learns from a wide range of health data in order to optimize the planning of the operating room. Opollo Technologies also enables its healthcare facility customers to monetize their efficiency by selling the resulting open time windows to health insurance companies on the Opollo Exchange, a marketplace where medical services are bought and sold.
“Our experience at UB has been amazing,” said Young, founder and CEO of Opollo. “There are so many people in the university and in the larger Buffalo startup community that will drop anything to help you!”
Rosén acts as the company’s chief sales and marketing officer. The management team is rounded off by Pete Turner, who acts as Chief Technology Officer.
In-kind benefits include legal services from Colligan Law LLP, accounting services from Lumsden & McCormick LLP, human resources services from the People Plan from HR Foundations Inc., business development services from the Western New York Incubator Network, and the UB Office of Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships, and office space from the North Forest Office Space.
Runner-up team, Kamal Patel, Daunel Augustin, both biomedical engineering students, and Daniel Hutchinson, will raise $ 10,000 for their company Layer Slayers, a proprietary cloud-based education platform for 3D printing that enables companies to take advantage of additive Manufacturing can use technologies.
Viewers voted for a $ 1,000 People’s Choice award going to BOSQ, a breast pump that creates a personalized experience for nursing mothers while delivering convenience, efficiency, affordability, and portability.
Panasci TEC offered the participants coaching and mentoring to prepare them for their pitches. Richard Peterson of UB Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships was a Panasci mentor for Opollo Technologies. The team also credits Dave Thiemecke of UB Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships; Matthew Colpoys of Galileo Consulting; and Hadar Borden and Alex Pelc of UB’s Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars for assistance throughout the process.
Jack McGowan of Insyte Consulting and the Western New York Venture Association / Buffalo Angels worked with Layer Slayers.
Five teams of finalists, reduced by 30 pitches in the first round and 11 semi-finalists, delivered 5-minute virtual presentations about Zoom in front of a jury and other viewers and were rated on how well they described the feasibility and marketability of their company as required for their product or service and presented potential sources of capital.
Other new venture ideas included a leak detection film that works with an app to monitor patients with bowel repairs and a shower chair accessory that encourages bathing independence and helps prevent injuries in the aging population.
The judges for the closing event were David Drew, software engineer for the Blackstone Group; Patrick Judge, Managing Partner, Camber Road Partners; Susie Kim, co-founder of Electric Potential; Terry Rice, Business Development Consultant, Terry Rice Coaching & Consulting; Lindsay Karas Stencel, partner at Thompson Hine LLP and co-founder of The W Fund.
Panasci TEC was founded in the 21st year of its existence by the UB School of Management and the UB Office of Business and Entrepreneur Partnerships and was funded with a $ 1 million donation from the late Henry A. Panasci Jr. to help commercialize facilitate and promote UB-generated technologies.
Hosted by UB’s Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars, the event brings together UB students from science, technology, business and other disciplines to maximize their potential and create viable businesses in West New York.
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This press release was posted by the University at the Buffalo News Center. The views expressed here are the author’s own.
