The inaugural New Orleans Health Innovators Challenge welcomed three startups at the finale pitch on Tuesday of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), the annual festival of entrepreneurship and innovation.
All three finalists have an innovative product related to diabetes care. The Challenge is hosted by the New Orleans Business Alliance along with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana and Ochsner Health System.
Alertgy, a startup based in Melbourne, Florida, took home the $36,000 prize and the opportunity to work with the New Orleans medical community to build the company. The team has built a wearable, noninvasive, real-time blood glucose monitoring and alert system that works with an app.
“This is an incredible endorsement and validation that the need I’ve been telling people about is a valid need,” said Alertgy President Marc Rippen. “Working with Blue Cross and Ochsner will help us move the company forward and get this product tested and out to market as soon as possible. This is the kind of traction that makes a difference.”
Bonbouton, based in New York, and DIASYST, based in Atlanta, were the other participating startups.