Dreamit Health Announces Spring 2017 Cohort Of Startups In Partnership With Penn Medicine And Independence Blue Cross

NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA, March 28, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading global startup accelerator Dreamit announced today the new cohort of companies accepted into its spring 2017 cycle. The eight accepted companies are leading the transformation of healthcare, using emerging technologies to transform outdated workflows, increase efficiencies, enhance patient experience, and address the proliferation of portable devices in care settings. These startups help create a richer continuum of care that bridges from the hospital bed to the home, including solutions focused on the hospital, the physician's office, and in home patient monitoring and support. This represents the 22nd Dreamit cohort and its 5th year in partnership with Penn Medicine and Independence Blue Cross.

"Our team has engineered an accelerator to serve the needs of healthcare startups selling to enterprise customers." said Dreamit CEO Avi Savar. "The Dreamit program shortens the sales cycle for startups and creates momentum that leads to more customers, which in turn leads to a much higher rate of raising follow-up on rounds of financing. Selling to health enterprise is about relationships, and Dreamit helps startups build bonds with healthcare executives in a very condensed time."

The eight selected startups were chosen from a global applicant pool based on metrics that included team strength, uniqueness of insights into the problems being solved, and a capacity to operate successfully in an industry that is typically slow-to-change and has long, complex sales cycles. These startups have demonstrated that they are not only solving an urgent problem, but have a compelling solution with an innovative go-to-market strategy that should allow them to grow faster than potential competitors. Representatives from Dreamit and its partners participated in a week-long, intensely competitive, final round interview process with less than 3 percent of the applicants being accepted into this new cohort.

"We are incredibly grateful to be selected by Dreamit as a breakthrough startup in the healthcare space," said Vik Thairani, founder of Tine Health. "Dreamit's ecosystem - and their ability to seamlessly incorporate promising startups into their healthcare community - creates a truly unique opportunity for us to rapidly scale."

The accepted companies will kick off their experience with six weeks of intense business model refinement, working closely with Dreamit Managing Directors to de-risk and expand their businesses, pressure test assumptions, and position themselves to raise their next round of funding. The companies will then participate in two weeks of face-to-face Customer Immersions, during which founders pitch and receive feedback from executives from some of the largest healthcare organizations in the country. These Customer Immersions, unique to Dreamit, often lead to pilots, paying customers, and partnerships that benefit startups long after the 14-week program comes to a close.

"We believe that it is critical to invest our resources, energy, and expertise in helping cultivate a thriving innovative health care community in our region, and we are excited to welcome this diverse group of talented and passionate entrepreneurs," said Independence Blue Cross President and CEO Daniel J. Hilferty. "Dreamit provides a structured and dynamic environment for these young companies to meet and learn from industry experts who can help them turn budding ideas into real-life, workable solutions. We are proud to continue our successful partnership with Penn Medicine and Dreamit Health."

More than 14 immersions are planned including Independence Blue Cross, Penn Medicine, Merck, BD, AARP, Philips, DuPont, Accenture, and Digitas Health. The program wraps with a Demo Day in Philadelphia followed by a two week, bi-coastal investor roadshow with members of the Dreamit team that connects the companies with VC investors in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay area.

"We are delighted to continue working with our partners in sharing resources and expertise to help fuel many successes resulting from this initiative," said Ralph Muller, CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System. "The solutions resulting from such innovative startups not only help Penn Medicine deliver the best patient care available, but also sends ripple effects experienced well beyond our region."

Dreamit Health will host the startups in their Philadelphia office immediately adjacent to the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel University, and a short walk to Independence Blue Cross and Penn Medicine -- both of whom have been key partners for five consecutive years. The startups will gain special access to high-level industry insight from local healthcare executives as well as ongoing guidance on how to address needs of payers and providers. Additionally, startups will enjoy space in the Dreamit Philadelphia office for up to four team members for the entirety of 2017.

Dreamit Health Spring 2017 Companies

• Biorealize: Makes low-cost, easy-to-use, portable tools for designing and growing organisms for novel biotech applications. Their first product, "Microbial Design Studio," dubbed the Personal Computer version of a biolab, allows anyone to design, test, and monetize biology at the bench and in the field.
• Bluedrop Medical: Reducing the burden of diabetic foot ulcers by 70 percent% via a smart home-based device which sends a daily scan of the patient's feet to the cloud. Advanced algorithms monitor photographic and thermal images to detect and monitor diabetic foot ulcers and provide actionable alerts to both patient and provider.
• Citus Health: Offers a suite of workflow automation and remote patient support software solutions that makes home healthcare less cumbersome and stressful for patients, while enabling providers to more cost-effectively deliver superior patient support and better patient outcomes.
• Cylera: Smart cybersecurity hardware which analyzes network traffic and behavior to identify and mitigate threats coming to and from all connected medical devices using machine-learning algorithms and known signature databases.
• Group K Diagnostics: Low-cost, rapid, paper-based diagnostic system, providing multiple results from one patient sample within 30 minutes or less at the point of care. The modular system can currently combine up to three different tests and can be read via a smartphone app, desktop app, or comparison paper guide, allowing the test to be conducted in any setting.
• Kaizen Health: Patient transportation platform enhancing healthcare efficiency and population health by leveraging logistics technology and data to improve patient outcomes.
• Marmo Health: Patient support and behavior change service delivered through ultra-personalized peer groups in a mobile phone messaging app with coach-led education programs and natural language processing.
• Tine Health: Mobile platform augmenting medical devices with Just-In-Time training and compliance tracking for front-line healthcare providers. Pilot studies have demonstrated over 50 percent% reduction in error rates, generating additional revenue for hospitals.

About Dreamit
Ranked as one of the top 10 accelerators in the world by Forbes, a top investor in healthcare by CBInsights, and a top 20 most active venture investor by the National Venture Capital Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dreamit focuses on bringing the right people together to drive progressive innovation and real business velocity.  Dreamit has launched more than 300 startups including LevelUp, SeatGeek, BioBots, Biomeme, Adaptly, Houseparty and more.

About Penn Medicine
Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $5.3 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 18 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $373 million awarded in the 2015 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Chestnut Hill Hospital and Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2015, Penn Medicine provided $253.3 million to benefit our community.

About Independence Blue Cross
Independence Blue Cross is the leading health insurance organization in southeastern Pennsylvania. With our affiliates, we serve more than 8.5 million people in 25 states and the District of Columbia, including more than 2.5 million in the region. For almost 80 years, we have been enhancing the health and wellness of the people and communities we serve by delivering innovative and competitively priced health care products and services; pioneering new ways to reward doctors, hospitals, and other health care professionals for coordinated, quality care; and supporting programs and events that promote wellness. To learn more, visit www.ibx.com. Connect with us on Facebook at ibx.com/facebook and on Twitter at @ibx. Independence Blue Cross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

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SOURCE Independence Blue Cross