South Florida Tech HubSouth Florida Tech Hub

By Nikki Cabus

Research Park at Florida Atlantic University® entrepreneur support initiative welcomes four new companies, graduates two

Read Time 4 Minutes

The Research Park at Florida Atlantic University’s entrepreneur support initiative, Global Ventures at Florida Atlantic, is proud to welcome four (4) new companies into its incubator program which serves both international and domestic second-stage technology companies.

To be considered second-stage, a company has achieved annual sales of at least $750,000 and has at least six (6) employees. Global Ventures focuses on healthtech and smart systems technologies.

The companies, which have all opened physical offices at Global Ventures in Boca Raton, FL this year include:

  • Biobeat Medical – The first Israeli company to join Global Ventures, Biobeat’s solution uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide actionable insights for patient care. More than just analyzing the data, Biobeat also generates it, using a proprietary sensor for continuous monitoring of vital signs unique to Biobeat. For more visit: https://www.bio-beat.com/
  • Ecosign Technologies –Ecosign was established as a spin-off of Contech Brazil, a company with over 30 years of experience in the pulp and paper industry. Ecosign is committed to providing innovative solutions for diverse industrial sectors working towards a more sustainable future. Through its technological leadership the company brings constant improvements to control of process contaminants in pulp and paper, textile, agribusiness, and poultry, among others. For more visit: https://www.ecosignus.com/
  • Isolab USA – Originating in Germany with manufacturing operations in Turkey, ISOLAB dedicates itself to providing products and solutions to its customers worldwide for various applications and research activities in universities, institutions, laboratories and home use. For more visit: https://www.isolab.de/
  • Triangulate Labs – Based in South Florida, Triangulate Labs created Skinmap™ to find skin cancer early. Skin cancer kills someone every five minutes. When discovered early, skin cancer is easily treated. Skinmap digitizes skin to save lives. For more visit: https://www.triangulatelabs.com/

“The addition of so many international companies to Global Ventures brings new intellectual and financial capital to South Florida while creating job opportunities for FAU students and alumni well as existing residents. The impact is overwhelmingly positive for this region,” stated Andrew Duffell, president of the Research Park at FAU.

Companies are served within Global Ventures at Florida Atlantic for two (2) years, accessing resources at Florida Atlantic University’s campus, networking opportunities and introduction to relevant businesses before expanding out of the incubator to the South Florida business community.

This month, two (2) companies will graduate from the initiative, having leveraged its resources for growth and success, reaching new heights.

  • FloSpine – An industry leader in spinal implants, the company is graduating after securing its fourth FDA device clearance. It now has six (6) issued patents with three (3) additional patents pending. FloSpine’s staff of seven (7) includes four (4) FAU alumni. Recognized in 2022 as one of the 50 Florida Companies to Watch by GrowFL, FloSpine has built strong relationships in the South Florida healthcare community and will expand to larger facilities within the Research Park at FAU itself. For more visit: https://flospine.com/

 

Peter Harris, Founder and CEO of FloSpine, said, “We are extremely grateful for the guidance and opportunities we received from Global Ventures. The support from their management team has been tremendous in helping accelerate FloSpine’s growth. We look forward to continued collaboration with Global Ventures.”

  • Gustie Creative – Gustie is a leading disruptive retail solutions provider for brands, businesses, agencies and nonprofits. The company develops, markets and sells design and strategy products and services. Gustie is graduating after completing research and development, obtaining three copyrights, publishing two business workbooks and launching Create Disruptive Retail, a mobile design platform devoted to creating disruptive retail solutions for a global user. Gustie has a new office in Boca Raton and will expand nationwide. For more visit: https://gustiecreative.com/

“While at Global Ventures, Gustie gained global recognition as a disruptive retail thought leader, and the company’s next stage of growth includes launching a SaaS learning platform for Disruptive Retail,” said Karen S. Herman, CEO and Design Director of Gustie Creative.

The Research Park at Florida Atlantic University® is home to technology companies and research-based organizations working to support the research and development activities of Florida Atlantic University and to foster economic development and broaden the economic base of Broward and Palm Beach counties. The Research Park at FAU hosts Global Ventures, an international soft-landing center for second-stage technology companies and FAU Tech Runway, a South Florida public-private partnership that serves as a hub to accelerate technology development and incubate startup companies. The Research Park at FAU is a 70-acre destination for R&D companies to thrive, established in 1985, it is widely regarded as South Florida’s laboratory for new entrepreneurial ideas and technologies. The Research Park at FAU is governed by the Florida Atlantic Research and Development Authority, an independent special district created by Palm Beach and Broward counties in partnership with Florida Atlantic University, organized under Chapter 159, Part V, Florida Statues.

To learn more about Research Park at Florida Atlantic University, visit https://www.research-park.org/

By Nikki Cabus

Getting to know Boca Raton-based ModMed’s new CTO Venkatesh Jayaraman

Read Time 5 Minutes

Boca Raton-based practice technology leader ModMed® appointed Venkatesh Jayaraman (VJ) as the company’s Chief Technology Officer.

Jayaraman leads the strategic direction and technical leadership for the product engineering organization, including cloud operations.

With over 25 years of technology and software development experience, Jayaraman brings an extensive record of success in technical leadership, cross-functional product development and software architecture. He has a proven record of building business agility using Lean-Agile practices while managing large-scale enterprise organizations across multiple geographies.

ModMed is transforming healthcare by placing doctors and patients at the center of care through an intelligent, specialty-specific cloud platform. With electronic health records (EHR) and practice management (PM) systems, and revenue cycle management (RCM) services, their all-in-one solution empowers specialty medical practices by providing clinical, financial, and operational software solutions. ModMed’s staff physicians help to develop products and services for allergy, dermatology, gastroenterology, OBGYN, ophthalmology, orthopedics, otolaryngology, pain management, plastic surgery, podiatry, and urology practices, as well as ambulatory surgery centers.

“VJ’s background and experience will deliver tremendous value to our organization, as he embodies ModMed’s cultural values around aligning passion with purpose,” said Daniel Cane, ModMed Cofounder and CEO. “We have welcomed him to our team as we work together to transform how healthcare information is created, consumed and utilized to increase practice efficiency and improve patient outcomes.”

Jayaraman most recently served on the executive leadership team at Vertex Inc., where he led the cloud/SaaS transformation of the product engineering organization, including cloud operations using agile methodology, modern DevOps and site reliability engineering principles. Prior to Vertex, he was in various leadership roles at Citrix Systems and Motorola, where he built and scaled agility across a globally distributed engineering team to achieve software engineering excellence. He holds a master’s degree in engineering management from the University of Florida and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from India’s National Institute of Technology.

 

GETTING TO KNOW VJ:

1. What are you looking forward to most in your new role with ModMed?
Using cutting edge technology to transform how healthcare information is created, consumed and utilized to increase practice efficiency and improve patient outcomes. Really looking forward to the opportunity to create simple workflow solutions for complex problems with valuable, meaningful impact. ModMed’s product portfolio does align passion with purpose where we can impact the lives of practice providers and patients in a big way by creating excellent software that delights them.

2. What do you love most about the healthtech industry?
The healthcare industry has always been full of untapped opportunities for technology innovation and workflow optimizations. COVID just exposed some of these opportunities in many ways. Healthcare is unique with respect to regulatory and interoperability demands. Coupled with the fact that healthcare software is only expected to benefit from the overall growth in US healthcare spend makes it a very exciting ground for making a positive impact.

3. What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter the healthtech industry?
Keep an open mind in terms of connecting their passion, skills, knowledge and experience for the various innovation opportunities that present using technologies like cloud, ML / AI, big data etc.

4. Any insight into what’s next for ModMed?
ModMed has had a phenomenal journey so far. From the initial momentum that we have gained, we are very well poised for creating our own flywheel effect to accelerate faster and faster, and gain even more momentum while building this organization for scale and growth. I am very excited by what’s to come and truly honored to be part of defining this journey.

5. From the 90s to now, what has been the biggest change you have seen in our local tech markets?
There have been quite a lot of changes in the local tech markets in the last 2-3 decades that have followed the industry trend largely. The tech industry itself has evolved from the PC computing, hardware & communications related innovations to more software based innovations with the advent of internet and cloud. Back in the 90s, we had quite a few tech companies like Siemens, IBM, Motorola etc. and they all have evolved with this changing landscape. With the advancements in cloud computing, even concepts as esoteric as Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence have become so accessible to the engineering community that they can be easily harnessed for the next generation of innovations. The core to this evolution is “business agility” and the companies that do that with the right talent and leadership thrive in the face of this changing landscape. Also, the promotion of STEM education in local schools and colleges has really propelled this pace of innovation and South Florida is on a path to excellence in making its mark in the tech industry.

6. All in on AI? What’s your thoughts on the future of generative AI in healthcare? 
Generative AI can be applied in various use cases to generate virtually any kind of content. The technology is becoming more accessible to users of all kinds thanks to cutting-edge generative AI interfaces like ChatGPT, Dall-E and Bard that can be tuned for different applications. With generative AI technology, doctors, hospitals, clinics and beyond may be able to streamline patient care and improve health outcomes with significant advantages like personalized healthcare for patients, predictive maintenance of medical devices and supporting administrative tasks to improve efficiency. Despite their promise, the new generative AI tools open a can of worms regarding accuracy, trustworthiness, bias, hallucination and plagiarism — ethical issues that likely will take years to sort out. None of the issues are particularly new to AI though. Just like any other technology, I am confident and cautiously optimistic that the generative AI would mature to bring the bigger benefits that we all aspire for.

7. No matter our role or level, we are always learning. What’s one thing – either industry-related or not – you learned in the last month?
I am a big believer of being a continuous learner while pivoting and adapting to changing landscape of needs. The mantra should be to plan the work and work the plan but be flexible and realistic to adapt for best outcomes. One of the books that I have been reading of late is Limitless by Jim Kwik. In this book, he overturns the conventional ideas of intelligence, achievement and perceived limitations with a compelling and practical handbook for change. It is based on the concept of all of us having boundless capabilities and what we make of them has everything to do with mindset and application.

8. Outside of work, do you play any sports or have any hobbies? What do you do for fun?
Yes, I play tennis, volleyball, chess etc. whenever time permits. Also, I like to read different books and spend time with my family. Love to explore and  experience the world through various travels to create a wholesome life!

9. What’s something about you (a fun fact) that not many people know?
I used to play cricket early on in my career and I received a trophy from the cricketing legend Clive Lloyd for my performance in the finals of a tournament that was played in the Central Broward Cricket Stadium in Lauderhill. Another fun fact is that I had to find a way to overcome acrophobia (thanks to the constant nudge from my daughter) to do ziplining with my family in Costa Rica recently.

 

Learn more about ModMed’s leadership team here. 

By Nikki Cabus

Verizon & CoLAB support startups with new Health Equity cohort

Read Time 2 Minutes
VerizoncoLAB are supporting startups working to break down barriers to quality care with solutions leveraging next generation technology. They are currently accepting applications for the Verizon Forward for Good Accelerator’s newest cohort: Health Equity.
For the last 10+ years, coLAB has built and managed a community of over 150k innovators, corporate partners, VCs, universities, community organizations, industry experts, nonprofits, and beyond. Through collaboration, they have done everything from business model innovation for Fortune 500s, to working with the next-generation of startups solving pressing social issues like climate justice.
CoLAB leads with a client-first approach, so programs always deliver on specific goals. CoLAB is proud that they don’t take equity stakes in companies saying that they can focus on making you happy through customization, agility, and better prices than the competition. CoLAB focuses on accelerators, ecosystem development, intrapreneurship, pre-accelerators, and open innovation challenges.
Verizon and CoLAB are supporting startups working to close the gaps in health access and outcomes. The search is one for solutions leveraging next generation technology to break down barriers to quality care.
Over 16 weeks, selected startups will receive $50,000 in non-dilutive funding, hands-on technology coaching, industry mentorship, and additional resources to help scale their technology such as the opportunity to create with the community that you’re building for.

Verizon is looking for U.S-based Seed and Series A startups utilizing technologies like 5G, MEC, XR and AI to advance connected health solutions in:

  • Cybersecurity
  • Data Capture, Sharing & Analytics
  • Telemedicine
  • Streamlined Virtual Care
  • Medical Transportation
  • Chronic Disease Management & Monitoring
  • Care Coordination & Collaboration
  • Population Health Management
  • Digital Marketplace Enablement
  • Health e-Learning / Education

Health Tech has the potential to unlock a more equitable healthcare system. 5G offers one of the fastest networks ever seen, and can provide higher speed, lower latency and greater capacity than previous cellular networks. It can enhance the abilities of other supporting technologies like edge computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), and immersive platforms using virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR).

Verizon is accelerating the digital evolution of health with 5G connectivity, data security, and collaboration solutions that are enabling the innovation ecosystem. Selected startups will receive hands-on coaching from a dedicated board of Verizon solution architects and healthcare subject matter experts throughout the program.

Applications are now open, but the deadline is Friday, November 11th. Click here for more info

Research Park at Florida Atlantic University® entrepreneur support initiative welcomes four new companies, graduates two
Getting to know Boca Raton-based ModMed’s new CTO Venkatesh Jayaraman
Verizon & CoLAB support startups with new Health Equity cohort