Austin med device startup Spot On Sciences just won 10 grand and the winning spot at the Kauffman Foundation pitchfest, “Get in the Ring: The North American Startup Clash.” It sparred with seven other startups for the title, the cash, and a trip to the Netherlands to compete in the competition’s global finals.
Spot On Sciences has developed the “HemaSpot” test, which allows for self-sampling, storage and shipping of dried blood samples. Here’s how it works:
HemaSpot is a plastic, blue, matchbook-size box. Inside is a flower with eight petals made of the same absorbent paper used to collect blood from a newborn’s heel. A person pricks a finger with a lancet and drops the blood in the center of the kit. The flower is set in a ring of desiccant, which dries out the sample. The person the drops the sample in the mail to a lab. Each petal can be removed and analyzed separately.
“The filter paper form allows the blood to spread out evenly and the blue box keeps it dark,” founder Dr. Jeannette Hill said. “There is no chance of contamination.”
The competition was held in Kansas City, Missouri, and was open to startups of all ilk – for instance, the runner-up was a die- and surface-casting technology.
“We’re thrilled that our at-home blood-collection device, HemaSpot, has been recognized for impacting global healthcare,” Spot On Sciences CEO Jeanette Hill said in a statement. “We were blown away by the caliber of pitches by the other Get in the Ring combatants and feel honored to have won.”
The general ida is that while 80 percent of healthcare decisions are based on diagnostic testing, collecting blood samples is challenging — particularly among those who are homebound, elderly or live in remote areas. Spot On Sciences, therefore, enables anyone anywhere to take an effective blood sample with only two drops of blood, without the need for laboratory equipment or personnel.
Hill is headed to the Netherlands, representing North American against winning startups from seven other global regions – South America, Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Western Europe and the Middle East. It’ll be held on November 21.
