The Dayton Development Coalition’s Accelerant Fund closed out 2021 fully invested with a strong portfolio of companies. The fund continued its strong focus on healthcare technology and devices with follow-on investments in Sentinel Occupational Safety and Healthy Roster. 

2021 Metrics:

• $7.6 million committed since beginning of fund
• $5.4 million in sidecar investments since fund inception 

Highlights:

Standard Bariatrics gains FDA approval and reaches sales milestone:

Standard Bariatrics® announced in April its novel Titan SGS™ stapling technology, designed specifically for bariatric sleeve surgery, has been cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The Titan SGS™ first-of-its-kind design offers surgeons performing sleeve gastrectomy procedures the industry’s longest continuous staple cutline of 23 centimeters.

“This clearance marks another important milestone in our mission to create solutions that can lead to more consistent and repeatable bariatric surgery outcomes,” said Jonathan Thompson, MD, Founder and Chief Medical Officer of Standard Bariatrics®. “The Titan SGS™ stapling technology is the natural evolution of the Standard Clamp™ anatomy-based approach to sleeve gastrectomy, which has been successfully used in more than 10,000 procedures.”

Standard Bariatrics®, Inc. (SBI), a Cincinnati-based company focused on developing medical devices for surgical treatments of obesity, announced it reached a $1M sales milestone during November 2021 for the Titan SGS™, a surgical stapler first used in gastric sleeve surgery on August 24, 2021 following FDA clearance.
By working alongside bariatric surgeons, SBI is growing a portfolio of solutions with medical devices that meet bariatric surgeons’ needs while delivering repeatable and consistent results. Bariatric surgeons across the country including California, Florida, Ohio, Kentucky, Alabama, Michigan, and North Carolina have used the Titan SGS since it was cleared by the FDA in April 2021.

The Titan SGS is designed to help surgeons achieve more consistent and symmetrical gastric sleeve pouch anatomy, setting patients up for the best possible outcomes. This first-of-its-kind design offers surgeons performing sleeve gastrectomy procedures the industry’s longest continuous staple cutline of 23 centimeters. Surgeons can complete the sleeve pouch anatomy in a single firing reducing the risk of anatomy variations associated with multiple, overlapping short-cartridge staple lines.

Healthy Roster launches Safety Ally: 

Healthy Roster entered the workplace safety marketplace with Safety Ally to prevent workplace injury and provide a telehealth platform for visual injury assessment, tracking, training and education, ongoing wellness checkups and more. The new product has attracted VIP customers with more pilots in the works.

IncludeHealth broadens its reach:

IncludeHealth has evolved from designing and building the world’s first accessible and connected functional training equipment to its current pursuit of providing integrated digital musculoskeletal (MSK) care, supporting patients, providers and payers. The company partnered with Google and ProMedica Health System to develop and launch a musculoskeletal (MSK) operating system that any provider can use to offer integrated virtual physical care for MSK patients.  The new MSK-OS™ will deliver personalized, measured care on any device, at any location, at any time.

Sense Diagnostics completed its ED/EMS prototype for its non-invasive headset and began a pivotal trial for in-hospital monitoring.

The headsets are designed to detect and monitor strokes and traumatic brain injury, as well as differentiates between the two. The device utilizes nine antennae that alternately transmit and receive a safe, low-power radio frequency (RF) pulse across the patient’s brain.

Healthy brain tissues have unique electrical properties that alter the RF wave as it passes through the tissue. Similarly, hemorrhages and ischemic tissue cause distinctive changes to the RF signal.

A proprietary algorithm classifies stroke by subtype: intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), large vessel occlusion (LVO) or non-LVO. It can perform a single scan in 2.5 seconds, provide 360 data points per scan, and  analyzes the entire cranial vault
The headset was named one of the Top 5 Neurological Devices in the World by StartUs Insights.  The company secured a $2.43 million Defense Department contract and raised an additional $3.5 million in funding in 2021. 

Divine Services experiences rapid growth, expanding into Columbus, and contracts with new venues:

Divine Services relaunched its HYYVE parking valet service in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus, leveraging opportunities that came with restaurants and entertainment venues opening up to in-person business. It also secured a number of new venue contracts for parking management and valet services.

Xerion Battery continued to make demonstrable progress towards the successful commercialization of its market disruptive Li-ion batteries.

The company closed on a $15 million bridge round and secured a $10M investment from TechMet in December.

Other Fund News:

Miami Valley Venture Fund II has significant exit from MiracleCorp asset sale:

BrightPet Nutrition Group (“BrightPet”), a leading provider of premium and super-premium pet food and treats, announced in January 2021 it had acquired Dayton, Ohio-based MiracleCorp and its portfolio of assets. The transaction will bring together MiracleCorp’s impressive portfolio of trusted brands with BrightPet’s extensive production capabilities and roster of brands.  The acquisition will also enable BrightPet to add additional manufacturing capabilities in Dayton, Ohio to its existing operations in Lisbon, Ohio; Sherburne, New York and Kiel, Wisconsin.

“Over the past 40 years, MiracleCorp has built a complete line of innovative, solutions-driven products and accessories for pets and prized animals – including our storied Stewart® brand of high-quality, nutritious and flavorful treats,” said William Sherk, Jr., CEO of MiracleCorp. “The complementary nature of both companies’ offerings will create significant synergies, especially in the freeze-dried segment of pet food, toppers and treats.” 

ZIA Systems exited the Dayton Region Signature Fund:

Vortex Technology Group, LLC, a business entity of the Vortex Companies’ Products Division, announced in March 2021 it acquired Columbus, OH based Zia Systems, LLC, an integrated system solutions provider of CMS (Curing Monitoring System) and CiPPi temperature monitoring technology for Cured-In-Place Pipe trenchless rehabilitation applications.  The acquisition is a move to protect its CMS technology patents and bring singular focus to its VeriCure® Cured-In-Place Pipe Curing Monitoring System.  Zia Systems Co-Founders, Jack Conte and Gary Rapp, will be working with Vortex Technology Group to ensure a smooth transition of its CIPP monitoring systems and existing customers.