Championing startups in the healthcare sphere is nothing new for technology incubator EvoNexus, including its current work with seven medtech startups in San Diego County. To date, 55 medtech startups have been admitted to the EvoNexus program.
EvoNexus’s MedTech Incubator teams with Abbott, BioRad, Dexcom, ResMed and Murata to accelerate the development of early-stage startups in the medtech ecosystem – from IoT and AI health device monitoring, diagnostic imaging and therapy management to remote healthcare, enhanced drug management and data collection.
Now EvoNexus founders Rory Moore and Walter Davis, a retired vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, are upping the company’s resume in the healthcare sphere through a new partnership with fellow nonprofit Sharp HealthCare in which they will work together to seek out and support early-stage companies in the medtech space.
Co-founder and CEO
EvoNexus
“We’ve never had a formal relationship with Sharp, but we’ve always had experts we’ve used from Sharp as we vet companies from the healthcare (field),” Moore said. “And always with the Admiral (Davis) on their board (from 2001-11), we’ve long used their clinicians and compliance people when looking at medtech companies. We’ve been able to reach out to Sharp and they provide an expert to help us make a decision.”
Moore said the partnership will drive Sharp, San Diego’s largest health system with nearly 20,000 employees, further along on the cutting edge of technology and innovation. At the same time, he said, EvoNexus-incubated startups will get the opportunity to work directly with Sharp executives who can help them craft their work and products to fit constantly growing needs in medtech.
“This our fast track to Sharp,” Moore said. “We think this will increase the number of startups and the quality of startups that come to our incubator. And if we admit them, Sharp gets to follow them as they develop.”
Sharp will get visibility through end- and early-stage companies of what is going to impact them in the future, Moore said, adding that “our job right now… is to introduce Sharp – with technology moving so fast – to startups that could matter to them. Our job is to be that scout for Sharp. And Sharp along the way can help guide our startups.”
A Vested Interest for All
Davis said startup companies have a vested interest in understanding what a problem is, and hospitals have a vested interest in finding solutions.
Co-founder
EvoNexus
“That puts us at that intersection where they come together and make some progress,” Davis said.
The partnership with EvoNexus comes at a particularly opportune time with Sharp recently launching its innovation arm called “Sharp Ventures,” dedicated to bringing new technologies to market. Additionally, the Sharp Prebys Innovation and Education Center opened in April of this year.
The SPIEC is a $70 million high-tech hub four stories high that is focused on research, training, workforce development, innovation, education and technology. The hub includes nursing and clinical simulation rooms, a technology demonstration room, and other areas where medical staff can practice in a simulated setting.
Dr. John LeMoine, chief medical information officer for Sharp HealthCare, will be working directly with EvoNexus, to help determine the best fits for both. LeMoine, who has been in practice for 50 years, is on the EvoNexus board as the Sharp HealthCare representative.
Chief Medical Information Officer
Sharp HealthCare
“From great relationships come great results and the synergy of having the entrepreneurial vibe that EvoNexus brings and put that together with the clinical know-how and clinical experience at Sharp is just going to create all kinds of great innovation,” LeMoine said.
LeMoine has been working with EvoNexus since its beginnings. He said for years he’s been fielding calls from Moore and Davis looking for Sharp experts to help one of the EvoNexus startups.
“Part of our secret sauce with several successful companies is to get the right team to look at that company and help us decide,” Davis said. “We go to lot of extremes to make sure that selection board team is made up of all the right people.”
Startups that will be part of the EvoNexus/Sharp partnership will have opportunities to work in a dedicated space at the EvoNexus campus but are also going to be encouraged to spend time at Sharp’s campus in Kearny Mesa.
“They can live for a while with EvoNexus, but at some point it may make sense to them to be to have a desk over here at Sharp where they could be closer to the clinical team,” LeMoine said.
EvoNexus enables entrepreneurs to turn transformative ideas into fundable, commercially-viable companies. Startups in the EvoNexus incubation program gain access to unique benefits to help their business grow and thrive, including capital, more than 400 investors and exclusive corporate partners and up to two years of free residency in incubation. Startups also can get mentorship from world-class domain experts, meeting integral partners within the EvoNexus network.
EvoNexus has successfully launched about 260 technology startups with 52 exits through acquisitions since its start in 2008. Its survival rate is 85%. EvoNexus portfolio companies have secured more than $3.5 billion in venture funding and outcomes, with $10 billion in pre-exit valuations. EvoNexus this year alone has helped companies raise about $335 million.
Sharp HealthCare
FOUNDED: 1955
CEO: Christopher Howard
HEADQUARTERS: Spectrum Center Boulevard, San Diego
BUSINESS: Healthcare nonprofit
REVENUE: $4.5 billion (2022)
EMPLOYEES: About 20,000
WEBSITE: sharp.com
CONTACT: 858-499-4000
SOCIAL IMPACT: Sharp’s All Ways Green initiative allows the organization to invest in innovative, socially responsible, sustainability projects and transform work practices to reduce impact on the environment
NOTABLE: In addition to simulation rooms for doctors and nurses, Sharp’s new Prebys Innovation and Education Center also has an auditorium and conference center
