On January 31st, 2019, Sling Health Saint Louis hosted a competition of 6 healthcare startup teams entitled “Sling Health’s First Alumni Pitch Competition: The Future of Biomedical Innovation.” With $5,000 in prize money available, teams pitched healthcare-related products, solutions, and ideas to an expert judging panel. The 6 companies that presented are tackling issues ranging from micro-collaborations associated with patient surgery, to light technology used for indoor agriculture. Sling Health invited the public to watch–and even judge, too!–reserving an “Audience Choice” award, as well. Inventr, a company which combines A.I. and attorneys to help companies find patent-able inventions, won the $5,000 first prize. Laproknot and ERPSidekick tied for the $3,500 second place prize, with Laproknot winning the $500 audience favorite prize.

Aadit Shah, vice president of Sling Health and McKelvey School of Engineering student, says, “We were very glad to host our first ever alumni pitch competition at the heart of the St. Louis entrepreneurial networking scene: Venture Cafe. Not only did we have mentors and advisers from our organization attend and judge the event hailing from diverse backgrounds in the growing St. Louis business, entrepreneurial, and biotech sectors, but more than 30 attendees learning about the organization and our teams for the first time. These teams only represent a subset of the many successful companies that have exited our incubator since our founding 2013.”