Parkview Health and MATTER announce Healthy Kids Healthy Future innovation competition finalists
Happypillar wins $10,000 at semifinalist pitch competition and advances as finalist along with four other chronic condition management startups
August 23, 2023, CHICAGO — Parkview Health and MATTER have announced five finalists for the Healthy Kids Healthy Future innovation competition. As a result of the semifinalist pitch competition, Happypillar, a mental health app for children and families, won the grand prize of $10,000 and will move forward to the accelerator phase of the competition, along with four other startups with chronic condition management solutions.
Launched in May 2023, this year’s competition challenged innovators to submit innovative solutions that help improve the management and treatment of chronic conditions for children and teens. Eight semifinalists were selected to participate in an incubation sprint, preparing them for the pitch competition that took place on August 16, 2023. The panel of distinguished judges awarded Happypillar the grand prize of $10,000 and a one-year MATTER membership. They will advance to the accelerator phase of the competition along with Augment Therapy, Oncoustics, One Day at a Time and Xploro.
During the two-month virtual accelerator, the five finalists will continue to build and test their solutions with leaders from Parkview Health and MATTER. Following the accelerator, the finalists will pitch their solutions to Parkview leaders for potential pilot and funding opportunities in November.
Meet the Healthy Kids Healthy Future innovation competition finalists:
Augment Therapy — Chagrin Falls, Ohio
Augment Therapy is an award-winning digital health company that engages people of all ages and ability levels in immersive, gamified exercise from hospital to home. Leveraging MOCAST™, their patent-pending technology, Augment Therapy offers a unique combination of full-body skeletal tracking and augmented reality-based interactive exercises accessible simply through a tablet or phone.
Happypillar — Austin, Texas
Happypillar is a child and family mental health app that takes the tools of evidence-based therapies and makes them available 24/7. Their innovative program uses artificial intelligence (AI) to provide individualized support, analyzing parent-child communication and providing personalized feedback specific to children’s needs and goals. Winner of the 2022 National Parenting Product Award and the 2023 Mom’s Choice Award, Happypillar has helped thousands of families who were desperately searching for options and plans to serve millions of children and families in the future.
Oncoustics — Ontario, Canada
Oncoustics creates advanced AI solutions for low-cost, non-invasive surveillance, diagnostics and treatment monitoring of diseases with high unmet clinical need. Unlike other players in the space, they are not doing image recognition alone. Instead, they also apply AI to raw ultrasound signals to measure acoustic biomarkers and enable a “virtual biopsy” using non-radiating, non-invasive, low-cost ultrasound for tissue analysis and characterization on adults and children of all ages.
One Day at a Time — Fort Wayne, Indiana
One Day at a Time is an innovative, non-profit mental health app designed to empower users with a sense of belonging and community. The app connects users to resources, coping skills and inspiration as they navigate the struggles of daily life.
Xploro® — Cleveland, Ohio
Xploro is a disease-agnostic and clinically validated patient education platform that uses augmented reality, gameplay and an artificially intelligent avatar guide to deliver health information to young patients, reducing the stress and anxiety associated with hospitalization, improving health literacy and fostering better engagement with health services. They started with children with cancer, but they’re building a health information platform for any patient, of any age, with any condition, anywhere in the world.
About MATTER
At MATTER, we believe collaboration is the best way to improve healthcare. The MATTER collaborative includes more than 800 current and alumni startups from around the world, working together with dozens of hospitals and health systems, universities and industry-leading companies to build the future of healthcare. Together we are accelerating innovation, advancing care and improving lives. For more information, visit matter.health and follow @MATTERhealth.
About Parkview Health
Parkview Health is a not-for-profit, community-based health system serving a northeast Indiana and northwest Ohio population of more than 1.3 million. Parkview Health’s mission is to improve health and inspire well-being in the communities it serves. With more than 15,000 co-workers, it is the region’s largest employer.
Parkview Health includes 10 hospitals and an extensive network of primary care and specialty care physicians. Parkview has been named one of America’s Best Large Employers by Forbes magazine and has been designated a Magnet® health system for nursing excellence.