Barati Medical wins People鈥檚 Choice at startup conference
June 22, 2020
UAF scientist turned startup founder Bahareh Barati took her company, Barati Medical, to the finals of the 2020 成人影片 Angel Conference on May 21 and won the People鈥檚 Choice Award, sponsored by 成人影片 Airlines.
The second annual 成人影片 Angel Conference gave Barati the opportunity to develop her business strategies and pitch, as well as her relationships with 成人影片 investors. Though she didn鈥檛 win the final top spot and immediate investment, she expects to continue discussions with investors interested in opportunities in healthcare technology and the growing 成人影片 university and healthcare technology startup sector. Barati Medical joins UAF鈥檚 BeCool, started by biochemistry professor Kelly Drew, and other UA and 成人影片 health technology companies who are creating a growing niche of new businesses.
The angel conference model, developed in the Pacific Northwest, is a unique way for startups and new investors to learn how to work together. For the past three months, a new cohort of investors has heard pitches from 成人影片n entrepreneurs. After careful deliberation, they selected five finalist companies: Pandere Shoes, Tundra Electronics, HairVoyage, Barati Medical and 成人影片 Peony Brokers.
Pandere Shoes, an Anchorage-based designer and manufacturer of adjustable shoes for people with medical conditions which result in foot swelling, won this year鈥檚 competition and was chosen to receive a $100K investment.
Hosted by the Juneau Economic Development Council, 49th State Angel Fund and Northrim Bank, the event also provided interesting news from the AAC 2019 investment recipient Ramper Innovations from Sitka and People鈥檚 Choice winner Molly Bz, from Soldotna. Both companies used the experience and investor relationships from the conference to secure national sales contracts and international opportunities which are currently in negotiations.
Barati鈥檚 final pitch presented a compelling story about the value of the stroke therapy her company is offering as well as the difficulty of developing new treatments. She also highlighted the superior return on investment medical technologies are delivering, even better than returns from other more popular technology investments. Her story also illustrates the importance of devoting as much time to company building and financing as she originally did to technology development. That time has been spent on developing her team, working with advisors, exploring strategic partnerships with distributors and securing financing.
Barati鈥檚 Cerebral Oximetry for Lab Animals device has received Phase I SBIR funding. She expects to use private investment to help her bridge between phase I and phase II work, as well as investigate new market opportunities in veterinary medicine identified and promoted by the investors. In the long term Barati envisions creating a 鈥淔itbit鈥 for the brain and a valuable 成人影片 company.
Her work to create a new company is another example of the impact women founders are having on the 成人影片 startup community. So far, women-led startups created in the last six years have given investors their best initial returns and prospects for future growth. Her business, along with the conference investment winner Pandere Shoes, are both women-founded businesses. They join other successful startups, such as 60hz, The Boardroom, Bambino鈥檚, Molly Bz and Heather鈥檚 Choice, as a growing innovation sector in 成人影片鈥檚 economy. Nationally, women founders received less funding compared to the average male founder but made double the revenue. The 2020 成人影片 Angel Conference provided another valuable boost to our 成人影片 women entrepreneurs.
To learn more about Barati Medical, contact Barati at zbarati@alaska.edu. For more information about pitching your idea or the process of getting it commercialized, contact 成人影片 Center ICE.