The young female cancer patient who sat in Dr. Arpit Rao’s clinic three years ago looked like she had all the resources she needed to battle her disease.
She was sharp. She had already gotten a second opinion, and as CEO of her own company, she could travel for treatments if necessary. But a few months after she began oral chemotherapy, Rao said, he got a panicked call from an ER doctor. His patient had a life-threatening brain hemorrhage, a side effect that can happen if a patient’s blood pressure spikes during the treatment. It was among the medication’s side effects, buried in six pages of other potential reactions.
“I said if this smart, educated really supported and well-resourced person couldn’t do it, then there are 17 million cancer patients in this country who need our help, too,” he said.
Rao spent the next several years developing Ankr, a virtual support system that, among other things, sends reminders to patients about potential side effects of their treatments in real time, gives them tips for staving off ill effects and helps them communicate more quickly with their doctors if trouble arises. Last week, the company won the Ion’s inaugural Startup Showcase, winning $10,000 in cash and free legal services provided by law firm Baker Botts.
It was one of the first major events hosted by the Ion, a tech-focused office space and collaboration center that opened in the spring. Since Rice University began building the development, city and civic leaders have pinned their hopes of broadening Houston’s economy to include more tech companies upon its completion.
Jan Odegard, executive director of the Ion, said the Startup Showcase felt like a fruition of those dreams.
“It was really exciting to see the energy in the building,” he said. “A lot of people came up and said, ‘This is exactly what we were hoping would happen, and now we can see it bloom.’”
The showcase technically began in January, when 24 startups began pitching their companies to judges. Four finalists were selected to give their pitches to judges last week: Case CTRL, a surgical management platform; Studio Pod, an automated professional photo studio; Cemvita Factory, which uses synthetic biology to produce chemicals that usually require fossil fuels; and Ankr.
Rao said he was surprised by the quality of the companies that made it to the finals. Their pitches were so impactful that Baker Botts ultimately offered each of them free legal services.
Rao said that the prize money and services were great, but that one of the best parts of the competition was making connections and meeting people who can help his company grow. It already serves 26 clinics and more than 50,000 patients, but he hopes to serve double that number by the end of next year.
“Entrepreneurship can be isolating. You believe in it, but you don’t always get validation,” Rao said. “But for us, this was that validation.”
shelby.webb@chron.com
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