By Nicole S. Daniel
The Birmingham Times
What began with a focus on sports technology at an Historically Black College and University in Texas is now a startup company that has created a software application that teaches newly diagnosed parents and kids who suffer from Type 1 diabetes how to eat the foods they enjoy.
Xplosion Technology is one of five startups that will showcase its business to investors, community partners and the public at an event in conjunction with the Prosper Healthtech Investment Accelerator premier on Tuesday, November 15 at 6 p.m. on Avenue D, 3008 4th Ave S Birmingham, AL 35233.
Prosper Healthtech Accelerator brings together startup founders, investors, corporations, job seekers, universities and more.
“As a company we pretty much reach out nationwide to recruit five healthtech focus companies. We bring them here (Birmingham) for 12 weeks to invest in them, work with them, connect them to mentors, and investors and work on strategies on how to get to the next level,” said Herman Wells, the Program Manager Prosper Healthtech Accelerator Premier.
Isis Ashford, 29, co-founder of Xplosion Technology, said she and co-founder, Kehlin Swain, started their company while students at Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU).
“We originally focused on sports technology and we were improving performance for baseball athletes,” said Ashford.
The company got into an accelerator in Austin, Texas and raised about $100,000 and “then we were able to secure a [NSF SBIR Phase 1] grant researching health disparities, specifically chronic conditions what [the COVID-19 pandemic] affects and it’s mostly Black women… which led us more into the diabetes space.”
For the last year Xplosion Technology’s focus has been diabetes management.
“With Prosper Healthtech Accelerator and we have made a lot of good progress within the terms of development of the product,” said Jaylen James, 28, a founding member and chief innovation officer of Xplosion Technology who also attended PVAMU.
Anyone who’s diagnosed with diabetes is required to take insulin daily.
“Users of the app can take a picture of a food and it will estimate the carbs in the food and calculate how many units of insulin they would need to eat the food while staying in the proper blood sugar range,” James said.
The Xplosion Technology application also has a feature that can instruct users how to eat the food they used to enjoy before being diagnosed. “Now they have a different strategy on how they eat those foods in order to stay in a healthy blood sugar range,” James said.
The company currently has a pilot with Children’s of Alabama and one with Camp Seal, a diabetes summer camp in Birmingham.
The ultimate goal for the app is to reduce the side effects associated with diabetes, James said. “We pretty much help those who have diabetes, maintain their blood glucose levels, and keep them from any of the very bad health outcomes that may come from not managing it well.”
Ashford said her team has enjoyed being a part of the Prosper Healthtech Accelerator.
“By week six, we were already talking to professors and endocrinologists from University of Alabama at Birmingham … in addition to that, we were also able to partner with a nonprofit community care development to address food insecurity since our mobile application is also addressing nutrition. We know that if folks don’t have access to healthy foods, then they are more prevalent and predisposed to chronic conditions.”
Ashford said she is looking forward to premier night to showcase “how much traction we’ve been able to obtain being here, and also just promote how collaborative and how open people have been to our technology …”
Here are other companies part of the Fall 2022 Cohort
DAWATEK reduces the time to diagnoses viral, bacterial, and cancerous diseases from 2-8 days to 5 minutes using a portable Rapid Testing Kit (RTK). Dawatek uses lasers and machine learning to analyze body fluids for the chemical signatures of the disease biomarkers, and adds diseases to the platform instantly via software updates, reducing the need for new disease specific devices and training procedures. Dawatek’s RTK increases speed to diagnosis, resulting in fewer infections and increasing primary healthcare providers’ throughput by 3x. Currently, Dawatek is able to diagnose COVID-19 with a 98% accuracy within five minutes.
Location: Chicago, IL
Founder and CEO: Isaac Chadri | | ichadri@dawatek.com | https://www.dawatek.com/
OK2STANDUP enables loved ones and care workers to remotely monitor senior(s)’ health and physical activities using a mobile app that is paired with a generally available wearable. OK2StandUP’s AI program analyzes the data collected through the platform and raises early actionable alerts, via the app, to mitigate falls. OK2StandUP currently has 1 residential care organization in Beta and 9 additional organizations in the pipeline who have already provided a live demonstration of OK2StandUP.
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
CEO & Founder: Eunice Yang | eunice@ok2standup.com | ok2standup.com
BLUTAPP supports therapists in providing remote treatment of PTSD using Bilateral Stimulation,(BLS) the active ingredient in EMDR, an evidence based PTSD therapy. BluTapp’s fully patented system combines mobile software and proprietary IoT “Stones” to provide remote delivery of PTSD treatment to those who suffer, with or without internet access.
Location: Birmingham, AL
CEO & Founder: Chris Causey | chris.causey@blutapp.com | www.blutapp.com
CLAIRE is reimagining the assisted reproductive journey as a data-driven, human-centered endeavor for women and their doctors. CLAIRE’s mobile digital health platform serves patients and doctors by enabling the incorporation of integrative health considerations into fertility treatment via a suite of resources rooted in warm tech, wearables, life sciences, and data innovation. For women navigating reproductive challenges while trying to conceive, CLAIRE supports the process with a bespoke care team of in-app integrative health experts and dedicated clinical care counselors, helmed by the user’s personal physician and unified by an AI-powered electronic health record system. CLAIRE has secured 5 clinical pilots and have partnered with the likes of Ōura Ring, Proov, and Passio Life.
Location: Nashville, TN
CEO & Founder: Ashleigh Brown | ashleigh@weareclaire.health | https://weareclaire.health
Updated on 11/15/2022 at 10:52 a.m. to include additional material and make clarifications.
