Cohero Health was named the winner at the second annual Impact Pediatric Health Startup Pitch Competition held as part of the SXSW Interactive Festival. The $50,000 prize will help Cohero as it continues to work to improve respiratory care through smart mobile devices that can track lung function. Cohero focuses on helping kids adhere to their asthma treatment as more than 13.8 million school days are missed per year because of asthma.
“We were honored to have won Impact Pediatric Health as it really personifies what we are trying to achieve as a company,” says Melissa Manice, Co-founder & CEO of Cohero. “We are committed to improving the lives of our patient community and the providers that care for them. Cohero started in addressing children impacted by pulmonary conditions, so getting the acknowledgment that our product offers the promise to achieve this by some of the country’s premiere children’s hospitals was a tremendous testament to our mission.”
Impact Pediatric Health was formed by four of the largest and top-ranked children’s hospitals, according to U.S. News and World Report, including Boston Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, and The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This year, 10 startups competed to see which one had the most innovative new development in pediatric care. Noninvasix, which aims to improve maternal-fetal health by lowering the rate of c-sections, came in second place. And Nanofiber Solutions came in third with its tissue engineered vascular grafts for arteriovenous access.
Steve Case, Co-founder of AOL and Chairman and CEO of Revolution, served as a co-emcee along with Dr. Jordan Shlain. The event was further supported by other pediatric care institutions including Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Seattle Children’s Hospital, and Stanford Children’s Health. Several industry experts served as judges including representatives from organizations such as HopeLab, PediaWorks, and REDI Cincinnati.
