Devices & Diagnostics, Health IT, Startups

Mobile EKG startup walks away from Google for Entrepreneurs demo day with $100K

InvisionHeart is working on a hardware/software product to make EKG readings shareable between care teams in real-time on a mobile device. It was one of nine startups that participated in Google for Entrepreneurs first demo day Wednesday.

Google for Entrepreneurs live streamed its first demo day on Google Plus today, where 10 startups from seven cities were selected to pitch their companies to a room of investors and a panel of investor judges. All 10 companies included in the lineup, including one medical device company, walked away with a $100,000 investment from AOL founder Steve Case, who was one of the judges.

InvisionHeart is working on a hardware/software product to make EKG data shareable between care teams in real-time on a mobile device.

Dr. Susan Eagle, a cardiac anesthesiologist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said there’s currently no quick way for clinicians or emergency responders to transfer EKG data to cardiologists in real time. This is necessary when, for example, someone is having a heart attack and arrives to an urgent care clinic in a remote area with no easy access to a cardiologist. Or it could be used so a cardiologist can be more prepared for when a heart attack patient arrives via ambulance.

“Right now, in this technology void, they have to use faxes, scanners or cell phone cameras to transmit your time-sensitive cardiac data,” Eagle said in the pitch. Those are unsuitable for diagnosis and in some cases a violation of HIPAA laws.

She teamed up with Franz Baudenbacher, a biomedical engineering professor, and entrepreneur Josh Nichols to come up with a better way. The device portion of the technology is a small, portable, EKG monitor that transmits data to a tablet or smartphone through a Bluetooth connection. A technician can take a sample of that data, upload it to the cloud and make it available to a cardiologist anywhere in the country, who could provide feedback on the patient’s status.

While participating in the Jumpstart Foundry program last year, the company developed a prototype, filed for patents and completed a pilot study at Vanderbilt, Nichols said. Now its looking to follow up a $400,000 seed round with a Series A that will carry it through FDA clearance and into pilot studies, he said.

The unexpected $100K from Case gets that off to a good start.

In the video above, InvisionHeart’s pitch starts at the 3 hours 41 minute mark.

Shares0
Shares0