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PhotoniCare Competes in HealthSpark 2018 Barracuda Bowl

PhotoniCare, a medical device company headquartered in Champaign, Illinois, competed in the Barracuda Bowl pitch competition March 11-12, 2018. The event, presented by HealthSpark was part of the broader South by Southwest Conference & Festival events happening this week in Austin, Texas.

HealthSpark is an event co-located with SXSW that highlights the newest health innovations and promotes the next wave of healthcare solutions. The event is sponsored by Abelson Taylor, MIT Hacking Medicine, JUICE Pharma, and HCB+. HealthSpark brings together a roster of high-profile thought leaders and 15 of the most promising start-ups in healthtech for two days of learning, networking, and pitching.

The Barracuda Bowl prelims took place throughout the day on Sunday, March 11th featuring dozens of start-ups divided into three rounds of pitch competitions in the areas of:

• Round 1: BioSensors & Digital Therapeutics
• Round 2: AI and the Future of Healthcare
• Round 3: The Future of Healthcare Hacking

PhotoniCare competed in and won the preliminary round of the BioSensors & Digital Therapeutics track, consisting of 5 startups from across the world. Ryan Shelton, co-founder, and CEO pitched at the presentation.

As winner of BioSensors & Digital Therapeutics track, PhotoniCare moved on to the Barracuda Bowl Finals which took place on Monday, March 12, 2018, and consisted of the winning start-up from each of the three tracks that pitched in the Sunday preliminary rounds. PhotoniCare took home the prize of “company of choice” by the TMC Innovation Institute.

TMC Innovation Institute, located in Houston, Texas, offers an accelerator program for startup companies called TMCx, which includes a curriculum tailored to the needs of healthcare entrepreneurs and the guidance of over 120 advisors from the front lines of the industry. PhotoniCare’s “company of choice” Barracuda Bowl honors grants them entry into the intensive four-month TMCx program.

“This was a very fun event that attracted a great group of people passionate about healthcare innovation,” said Ryan Shelton. “We are honored to have been a part and received a lot of value from the connections made during the event. Texas-style tacos and mimosas were, of course, a plus.”

About PhotoniCare
PhotoniCare is a medical device company developing a handheld, low-cost imaging platform for the front lines of medicine. The TOMi Scope [OtoSight Middle Ear Scope], the first product on the platform, will fundamentally change the way healthcare providers manage middle ear infections, one of the most common diseases in the world. Founded out of Dr. Stephen Boppart’s Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), PhotoniCare continues its relationship with UIUC as an EnterpriseWorks incubator company. For more information about PhotoniCare visit www.photoni.care or connect with PhotoniCare on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.