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2023 Remarkable Demo Day | Screening 1

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#RA23 Demo Day Transcript [01:10 - 01:16] Filipa Araujo, Remarkable Welcome to Remarkable Demo Day 2023. My name is Filipa and I'm the Head of Programs at Remarkable. [01:16 - 01:30] Molly Levitt, Remarkable And my name is Molly and I'm the Director of Remarkable US. This is our second year running a US program after a successful 2022 pilot and we're thrilled to have a full cohort of US startups in this year's program. [01:30 - 02:07] Filipa Araujo This event celebrates our eighth cohort of startups that have completed a Remarkable accelerator. And this year, our program welcomed founders from across the globe, including companies from Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as Australia. And as Molly mentioned, it also marks the second official cohort out of the United States. From brain-computer interface technology in everyday life to extended reality navigation solutions, in the next hour, you're going to hear from the founders of exciting disability tech startups who are building products designed to positively impact the lives of people with disabilities. [02:07 - 02:39] Molly Levitt This screening includes sign interpretation, closed captions and audio description. We also invite you to join the conversation on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. And please use the hashtag #DisabilityTech. During the pitches, if you love what you're seeing and want to learn more, just go to the buttons at the bottom of the screen. There you will find a few different options for how you can learn more about the pitch you're watching, including accessing the pitch materials or connecting directly with the startup. The startups are online now and would be thrilled to hear from you. [02:39 - 03:14] Filipa Araujo Remarkable is made possible by Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation. And we would like to thank the generous support of our partners, Telstra Foundation, icare New South Wales, Vivcourt, TPG Telecom Foundation and The Ian Potter Foundation. The startups will be presented one after the other with a short intermission in the middle. You can see the order of the startups presenting below on your screen. Without further ado, I am excited to now pass the screen over to our first group of startups. [03:32 - 04:56] Pete Beckett, Indii This is Sofii, the adaptable switch for your home. And this is Sophie, my youngest sister. Sophie is a genuine ray of sunshine who finds her joy in good food and singing Christmas songs all year round. In 2001, Sophie experienced a severe brain trauma, and as a result, now requires one-to-one care on a daily basis. Sophie's experience is what inspires our vision. Hi. I'm Pete Beckett, the founder of Indii, and we're developing technology to enable the tens of millions of people with motor disabilities who stand to benefit from integrating smart-home technology into their homes. Currently, home tech is limited by its input devices. In a world ruled by phone apps, quick and universal control is not a given. Voice assistants have been a great step in the right direction, but there are many scenarios where users cannot or do not want to use their voice as a primary input method. Meanwhile, companies operating in the assistive tech space excel in designing solutions with specific user requirements. Unfortunately, to date, most implementations of environmental control have been prohibitively expensive and limited in both scope and capability. That's what led us to develop Sofii, the switch, not the sister. Sofii supports adaptive switches and offers audio-visual feedback and connects directly to the smart home without the need for a mobile device. [04:56 - 05:04] Sofii This button controls your bedroom lights. Press the button again to toggle on and off. [05:04 - 05:57] Pete Beckett Sofii can act as a Bluetooth switch for iPads, phones and computers, and at just $350, is more capable than its nearest Bluetooth-only rivals, and for a lower price. Over the past 18 months, we've developed the hardware and software, and tested with new potential users. We're now really close to delivering on our mission of providing new and improved ways to enable independence at home. But the next 18 months is set to be even more exciting. This spring, we're welcoming interested parties to evaluate our hardware and explore commercial partnerships as we move towards a launch, selling into the NDIS early next year. And this is just the beginning. In the future, we want to take our tech out of the home and into public spaces, providing more convenient ways for our customers to interact with the world around them. And all this thanks to Sofii, the switch and the sister. [06:14 - 09:35] Brianna MacDonald, The Care Co I'd like you to imagine a primary school class. This might be your child's class or a child you know and there could be about 30 kids. If it's a classroom of 30 kids, we expect about one in five of those children to have already experienced a traumatic event. We expect one in seven of those kids to already or soon to be struggling with their mental health. And on average, about one in ten of those young people is disabled. I'm sure you can imagine, in a classroom of 30 children, that's a lot of need. And unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. We know that one in three adults struggles with their mental health. We're losing about $5 trillion in the workplace and one in five sick days for the same reason. Depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorder are three of the world's leading disabilities. And it's expected that almost all people will face at least one significantly traumatic event in their lifetime. The problem isn't just our declining level of mental health and wellbeing. The problem is that we're not learning the skills needed to manage these challenges and we simply don't have enough supply to meet the need. My name is Brianna and I'm the founder of The Care Co. I'm a Canadian First Nations woman studying a Masters in Psychology with Harvard. I've worked in the trauma-informed education space, am a two-time entrepreneur, and 20 years ago, I was a Care Co kid. Now a flourishing, healthy adult, I'm just one example of what can be achieved with early intervention. And I spend a lot of time looking for where the opportunities are. Chances are you or someone you know is a parent or guardian and you're probably pretty busy. While you may not feel like a mental health expert, you've got one silver lining. Chances are you send your child to school. If you're an educator, you might feel plagued with questions like, "How do I teach mental health in the classroom?" Again, an opportunity. You're teaching fundamental life skills every day. Psychologists are a fantastic, effective model, and while they're hard to scale in their current form, the psychology community gives us an evidence-based best-practice way to work with kids. And this brings us to The Care Co. The Care Co is an in-classroom software that teaches kids between the ages of five and 12 mental health habits. A self-paced learning tool, we offer easy lesson planning, agency, and a unique way to build mental health habits from day one. One of the features we're super proud of include our ability-based, evidence-based model,support for school disability funding reports, and activities that are mapped to health subject teaching needs. So where do we go from here? We're beta testing our app with five schools and 1,500 students. Next we're partnering with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and positioning The Care Co in front of about 1,200 schools in September 2023, and officially launch in October. Our future plans include the psychology, disability and social work communities, as well as an app for parents and guardians at home. And we have one really audacious goal - "every child, every school." To get there, we offer subscriptions priced per student per month. Schools can choose a six-month or 12-month licence. And considering the two billion kids worldwide, we're just getting started. First targeting one million students, we'll be grossing $60 million in annual recurring revenue if we reach that goal. For those ready to see mental health skills taught in every school, I ask that you scan this QR code to view a product demo, visit our website, or join our product updates and investment opportunity newsletters. And if you're onboard with our North star, join our mission. We would love to have you along. [09:54 - 12:51] Ricardo Garcia-Rosas, Virtetic If you were to get a leg or an arm amputated, you'd need to wait over four months to get access to a prosthesis. While you wait, you lose function in the affected limb and become more at risk of suffering phantom limb pain throughout your life. This time delay costs healthcare systems around the world over $5 billion every year. I'm Ricardo, co-founder and CEO of Virtetic, a digital health company enabling people to kick-start their journey with a prosthesis through the power of games and immersive technologies. By practising with a virtual prosthesis, people can start functional rehabilitation and learn to use a prosthesis as soon as they can start with therapy. We co-design our gamified clinical interventions with the community to ensure they are evidence-based and representative of living with a prosthesis. Ultimately, our products help people to be able to fully use their prosthesis from day one. Our first product, Myo-Hand XP, allows people to learn to use a prosthetic hand through guided practice in VR. Our second product helps people manage their phantom limb pain through active limb visualisations in VR. Our products can be used in the clinic or at home as prescribed by a qualified clinician, which can be covered by disability insurance, like the NDIS, TAC and iCare. Virtetic provides all the hardware, software, training and support that both clinicians and their patients need to use our products. We partner with prosthesis manufacturers to feature their products within our system, helping them reach potential customers at an earlier stage. That is why for the past two years, the number one prosthesis manufacturer, Ottobock, has been collaborating with us to incorporate their products into our system. We have submitted the regulatory application in Australia for our first product, and we plan to submit the application for the second product in the first quarter of next year. We work with two clinics in Melbourne who are ready to pilot our products to validate their clinical effectiveness and the business model of our offering. These pilots will inform our commercial roll-out throughout Australia and how we can work with Ottobock to bring our offerings to the world. We are a diverse and passionate team with a wealth of experience in the development and research of virtual reality and prosthetic devices, complemented by expertise in finance and management consulting. Our clinical advisors are expert clinical practitioners and world-leading researchers in prosthetics, rehabilitation and pain science. Our commercialisation advisors are global leaders in the commercialisation of medical devices. But most importantly, we share a passion about making a positive impact in the lives of people living with limb loss. Following regulatory approval, we will launch our first product with partner clinics. To help drive revenues and growth, we'll be seeking further capital in the next six months to scale our product offerings in Australia. If you are interested in joining us, please reach out. [13:09 - 16:34] Kyle Cortesi, MEMORehab Hi, everyone. We are MEMORehab and our mission is to enhance the experience of cognitive rehabilitation so we can make it more accessible, supportive and data-driven. We are a post-revenue company looking for partners to help us increase our outreach and grow our platform. Globally, one in six people will live with a neurological condition, resulting from things like stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and more. Sadly, many patients cannot access cognitive rehab due to the inability to travel independently, their distance from the clinic, or the lack of clinicians available with the time or space to run interventions. Even when interventions are available, patients often lack the tools to practise newly-learned skills or establish new habits. And clinicians are often unable to monitor how their patients are engaging with the program outside the clinic, leaving them unable to provide support when it's needed most. At MEMORehab, we support both clinicians and patients through the rehabilitation journey. For clinicians, we allow them to reach patients from anywhere using telehealth and track their patients' progress with data analytics. For patients, we help them better understand their condition by providing educational resources and reinforce newly-learned skills using computerised training and automatic reminders. Imagine the efficiency. Weekly, group-based telehealth sessions, practice with digital tools, and consistent feedback. We have begun our journey by adapting a well-established, group-based memory intervention to our platform with over ten years of clinical research backing its efficacy. And in the future, we aim to expand our services by adapting additional well-established interventions to our delivery model. Right now, we are working on several projects to support MEMORehab, like building a dedicated research platform to test our materials, training and education programs for clinicians via accredited workshops and seminars, and a clinician registry to help patients find the right professional. Since our incorporation in 2021, we have worked with organisations, universities and hospitals. For example, we have partnered with both local and international organisations in the neurological injury space. We have teamed up with universities such as Monash to conduct clinical research, showing that patients using our platform increased in several key areas related to memory. And we are proud to say that major hospitals, health districts and clinics across the country have purchased our annual licences, with dozens of patients successfully using MEMORehab. Our team brings a wealth of passion and experience, including Laurie Miller, a clinical neuropsychologist with 30 years of experience. Kyle Cortesi, that's me, with experience in program management, and Pranshu Midha, a skilled front-end developer. Today, we're seeking partners who believe in our vision. So if you can help us reach more clinicians, link them with patients, or add interventions to our platform, we would love to hear from you. So if you are interested in joining us to revolutionise cognitive rehabilitation, use the QR code to visit our website and let's schedule a call. With MEMORehab, we're not just imagining the future of cognitive rehabilitation, we're building it. [16:52 - 20:52] Dion Kelly, Possibility Neurotechnologies I'm Dion Kelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Possibility Neurotechnologies, the company that's empowering the future of inclusion with our assistive technology solutions that convert thought to action. This is Claire. Claire is a six-year-old girl with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She can't speak or move, which hinders her ability to use current assistive technologies. Though she's very smart and capable, her physical limitations often make it difficult for her to communicate and express her abilities. Around the world, there are millions of children like Claire who face similar challenges. Their access to basic human rights, including self-expression, play and independence, is often restricted. Brain-Computer Interfaces, or BCIs, allow users to control devices using their brainwaves, including household appliances and power mobility chairs. However, BCIs and their applications are not yet readily available to the end-users like Claire because the middle component enabling control of these external devices has been confined to research environments. Our proprietary technology, the Think2Switch, fills this gap in providing a bridge between BCIs and the devices that they can control. Using a BCI headset, a user can think about a desired intention and use that thought to control a switch-adapted device through translation of the thought to action by the Think2Switch. We're packaging our Think2Switch with a commercial BCI headset and environmental control device to provide a ready-to-use, plug-and-play solution for children to immediately access their environments and participate in life activities. We've innovatively filled a significant gap in the market with our user-friendly, portable Think2Switch system. Unlike existing middleware solutions that are typically restricted to lab environments, our unique system is portable and ready for immediate plug-and-play application. Our initial target market is children with quadriplegia, of which there are 36,000 resulting from CP in developed countries alone. Our entry into this market will leverage specialised healthcare networks, therapeutic communities and targeted marketing strategies. Subsequently, we plan to expand our reach to adults with quadriplegia, a demographic of more than nine million individuals in developed countries. This will involve partnerships with rehabilitation centres, adult care facilities and relevant healthcare providers. Our long-term strategy involves penetrating the mass market of able-bodied children, a demographic of approximately 80 million in North America. In this phase, we'll leverage mainstream retail channels and broad-based marketing strategies. With our Think2Switch technology, Claire is actively participating in activities that were once impossible, from baking cookies with her little brothers, to blending her own meals, making lemonade, and even participating in their family tradition of pickling. Claire's mom said, "It's a light at the end of the tunnel. The possibilities are endless." As one of the few teams globally focused on researching BCIs for children, our multidisciplinary group of clinicians, engineers and business development specialists are leading the way in this untapped market. With a shared passion for making a difference, we're driving forward the development of integrated BCI solutions. We believe that everyone deserves equal opportunities and our vision is to foster an inclusive society where this is possible. Our next goal is to significantly expand access to our product to better serve our primary target market of children with quadriplegia. In order to achieve this, we're planning to raise a $2 million funding round later this year. If you're a passionate investor who shares our vision of an inclusive society, we'd love to start a conversation. We're also interested in connecting with potential partners and customers who could benefit from our technology. With your support, we can bring BCI to the millions of individuals who need it most. Let's work together to create a future where everyone, regardless of their physical abilities, has the chance to express themselves, to play, to create and to live independently. Are you ready to join us on this journey? [21:10 - 23:59] Jeremy Nagel, Focus Bear Hey, I'm Jeremy, the founder of Focus Bear. I've got ADHD and autism, which is my superpower. My brain constantly fires out creative ideas and I can concentrate on my ideas for hours on end. I've started multiple businesses, I sold my last one, and have had a pretty good career. However, it didn't start that way. I got fired from my first five jobs, which was both financially destabilising and a massive hit to my self esteem. I turned my career around, but many neurodivergent people never experience stable employment. Unemployment rates amongst people with autism are eight times higher than for neurotypical folks, and it's also an issue for people with ADHD. With more and more people getting diagnosed, this issue is only getting worse. We need a way to tap into the creativity and problem-solving skills that neurodivergent people can offer. I've been working on an app called Focus Bear that can help neurodivergent people channel their hyperfocus and not get distracted. Speaking of channels, I found an awesome competitive axe-throwing channel on Youtube. It's so good that I just have to show you it right now. Oh, this pop-up is saying that axe-throwing might not be relevant to delivering the pitch. It's probably right. Did I mention I have ADHD? I should probably go back to telling you about the app. It uses AI to determine whether a website is relevant to the work you're doing. If it's not, it lets you save the page to view after work or you can block it completely. Distraction blocking isn't a new concept. Many other apps do part of what Focus Bear does. What's different about us is our focus on neurodiversity, our holistic approach, which includes daily habits and rituals, and our support of all platforms, desktop and mobile, because blocking on one device isn't enough. If I start focusing on my computer, I want my phone to be free of distractions, too. The app also prepares the brain for productivity through a unique approach to habit formation. It guides you through a morning routine one habit at a time, reducing overwhelm. The app is live in the market and we've had rave reviews from the community. We've got paying customers with excellent retention. Our business model is a monthly subscription starting at $5 US per month for consumers. I've got an outstanding team building the app with me. I'm an experienced founder with a successful exit. Manish, our lead developer, has 20 years of experience. And most of our other team members are neurodivergent and can thus empathise with our customers. We're opening a $750k fundraising round to bring Focus Bear to B2B. We've had some promising initial conversations with businesses and will be refining the product with features like a Slack and Microsoft Teams integration, hiring a B2B sales specialist and investing in marketing. The round will allow us to grow to 10,000 paying customers. To learn more, visit focusbear.io/invest. Together we can help neurodivergent people thrive in the workplace. [24:04 - 24:18] Filipa Araujo, Remarkable I would like to introduce Jackie Coates from Telstra Foundation, who has been one of our longest ongoing supporters. Jackie will be announcing the winner of this year's Telstra People's Choice Award, a cash prize to one of the cohort from this year. [24:18 - 24:46] Jackie Coates, Telstra Foundation Hi, everyone. It's great to be part of Remarkable Demo Day again this year. Thought I'd cut straight to it and announce that the Telstra People's Choice Award this year goes to Focus Bear! Congratulations, Focus Bear. You'll receive a $5,000 donation from the Telstra Foundation. And congratulations to the whole Remarkable team and all the amazing startups. We think you do an incredible job making the world more inclusive for everyone. Have a great Demo Day. Bye! [24:46 - 24:54] Molly Levitt, Remarkable We're excited to welcome you back. Now to enjoy the second half of Demo Day, featuring an amazing group of RA23 startup pitches. [25:09 - 28:26] Souvik Paul, Aurie Nine years ago, my sister-in-law Carina sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident. As she began her rehab, I learned that people with SCI would rather improve their bladder function than be able to walk again. That's why I started Aurie. My name is Souvik Paul and our mission at Aurie is to prevent life-threatening infections for intermittent catheter users. Carina is one of 600,000 people in the US who need to use six to eight single-use intermittent catheters a day. These catheters are basically plastic straws with holes on either end. To use them, users go into the bathroom, insert the catheter into the urethra and leave it in until urine stops flowing from the bladder. Afterwards, these catheters are removed and thrown away. And altogether, over $2 billion worth of catheters are purchased in the US every year. The problem is that urinary tract infections are a leading cause of death for people with spinal cord injuries and other intermittent catheter users. There is a 50% annual chance of a severe complicated UTI due to the use of standard catheters. The average user experiences one to two UTIs a year, and an annual supply of these catheters is about $5,000. There are safer no-touch catheters that reduce infections by over 30% because of their insertion sleeves and introducer tips that reduce contact contamination. Because they cost almost $20,000 for an annual supply, they are covered for less than 7% of Medicare patients. Aurie uses a tech-enabled approach to make intermittent catheterisation safer, more convenient and more sustainable. Our reusable no-touch catheters have the same features that help reduce UTIs, but are designed to be reused 100 times with our patented portable smart catheter case, which completely automates the cleaning, disinfection and lubrication of catheters with tap water and pre-packaged supplies. When we surveyed catheter users, 81% wanted to switch to our system. Why? Because our system allows us to provide infection-reducing features of no-touch catheters at the same price point as standard catheters. We provide a cost-effective means to reduce urinary tract infections for our users. We've demonstrated repeatable and robust disinfection efficacy with early prototypes at the University of Notre Dame. We've further developed the prototypes and are preparing for FDA submission in early 2024. We have four issued patents, one pending patent, and additional planned submissions. We have FDA sign-off on our testing strategy and the FDA has even granted us the Safer Technologies Designation after reviewing our early test data. We're expecting expedited review once we do submit. The team at Aurie has over 75 years of experience in healthcare, has commercialised 17 medical devices, and has sold over $50 million in durable medical equipment. We have a broad coalition of support from investors like Lakehouse Ventures and grant-funders like the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Disabilities, all of whom believe in our mission. We're always looking to connect with like-minded investors & innovators. Join us in making infections and preventable death a thing of the past for catheter users. [28:44 - 30:15] Thane Hunt, Hominid X There's probably an object next to you right now. Pick it up, but without squeezing your fingers. It's impossible. I'm Thane Hunt, founder and CEO of Hominid X. We build wearable tools that help people to reclaim the use of their hands. Why? Because there are over 200 million people who can't use their hands, making everyday tasks difficult or impossible. Physical therapy can help, but often takes years and won't result in a full recovery. And in the meantime, the adaptive solutions are either specialised to one task or too expensive. So we designed Fiber, our easy-to-use, adaptive grasping tool that empowers its user with a secure and versatile grip around almost any object. A user can put it on in under 30 seconds and wear it comfortably all day to help them complete any task that requires grip strength. Our design guides the hand into a variety of different grasps, and it does this without any cumbersome motors or batteries. That's right, our solution is entirely mechanical. There is no other product like it and we're patent-protected. Our early testers have held thousands of different objects and the results are clear. People with hand disabilities are riding bicycles, preparing food and getting back to doing what they love. Let's take an example, Megan, who loves to bake. Megan suffered a stroke when she was younger and lost the ability to use her left hand. When we met, she was using just one hand for her baking projects. Now with Fiber, she's using both hands. She's been able to focus more on her recipes and less on her grasp. She recently opened a bakery and summed up the magic of her experience with Fiber to her followers on TikTok. [30:15 - 30:22] Megan Dude, it works! I did it! Easy-peasy. Oh, this makes me so happy! I haven't been able to do this for years. [30:22 - 31:20] Thane Hunt Stories like Megan's are everywhere. Millions of people needed help with grasping and holding and they haven't been served until now. We sell our products directly to the users or through their occupational therapists. Since launching Fiber last year, we've worked with clinicians and users all across the United States. Once someone wears Fiber, they understand. We have a strong team. With my background in prosthetics and hardware development, I invented Fiber.My co-founder, Soniya, did the marketing for a $200 million revenue business. And our manufacturing leader, Junior, brings 20 years of experience in scaling new products to mass production. Try to imagine someone you care about being unable to pick up the phone when you call or giving up on their hobby because they lack the grip strength to do it. With Fiber, we've already been able to put the most fulfilling moments of people's lives back into their own hands. So visit us online at HominidX.com to purchase Fiber or to schedule a demo. And together, we'll create a world where no hand is left behind. Thank you. [31:39 - 35:35] Kara Allanach, SpineX Imagine if you or someone you love was unable to move their body as they pleased or control bladder function on their own. For millions of people in the US living with neurological conditions, this is their reality. Here at SpineX, we are developing incredible new technology to treat these conditions by using electrical impulses to retrain the spinal cord. Our technology is built on groundbreaking research from the top scientists in the field of neuromodulation and is done non-invasively, without needles or surgery. Although our technology has many potential applications, we have chosen to focus our first two commercial products on conditions with huge unmet clinical needs, movement disorder in children with cerebral palsy, or CP, and incontinence in adults with neurogenic bladder. These conditions together affect more than 2.5 million Americans. Existing treatments are simply not good enough because they don't fix the problems, they only reduce symptoms. At best, they're short-term solutions, like drugs that cover up symptoms but have unmanageable side effects. And at worst, they're invasive treatments, like Botox injections or nerve-severing surgery, causing irreversible long-term reductions in function. With SpineX, now there is hope for these patients and their families. This is a three-year-old child with CP. Before SpineX, he was unable to take steps on his own. But when we provided SpineX therapy, within five minutes, he was able to take steps. We have seen similar results, in line with their functional level, with nearly all of the more than 40 children who have undergone treatment with SpineX therapy so far. The really exciting part? We see durable improvements that last for several months beyond the final SpineX therapy treatment. Nothing else on the market can do this. Neurogenic bladder, or NB, is common in spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and stroke. NB often involves incontinence, frequent urinary tract infections, loss of sleep from night-time voids, and use of catheters to empty the bladder. For some people, catheterisation can take 20 minutes each time and must be done anywhere from four to more than ten times per day, including several times through the night. With SpineX therapy, we're able to reduce incontinence episodes by 70%. And if leaks do happen, they're smaller. Patients report feeling more in control, they don't need as many catheters and they can finally sleep through the night. How does it work? The common thread between all of these conditions is that messages between the brain and the spinal cord don't get through clearly. SpineX technology acts like a hearing aid for the spinal cord, amplifying the signals that need to get through while cutting out background noise. We deliver special electrical pulses through the skin to rewire brain patterns and encourage neuroplasticity, producing long-term results. What's next? Our team of highly-experienced medtech professionals is excited to bring these technologies to market. We expect to receive FDA approval for and launch the first of our products in late 2024. We will reach our target customers by working directly with our collaborators in the hospitals, rehabilitation centres and physical therapy clinics where they are already being treated so that we can make sure that we reach as many potential users as possible. We've been told by our patients and their families that the impact of our technology is magical, and we agree. Join us in our quest to bring this amazing technology to market. We're launching a financing round, recruiting for clinical trials, and interested in talking to people with lived experience with any of these conditions. Please reach out to us. We would love to talk to you. [35:53 - 38:40] Nicole Cuervo, Springrose My grandmother Rose was an unstoppable woman but she had chronic pain and arthritis that made it challenging to get dressed in the morning. And she's not alone. In the US, one in three adult women has some form of limited mobility. That's because there are 50 different injuries, illnesses and disabilities that affect women of all ages and impact their ability to get dressed painlessly and independently. Everything from a temporary broken bone or frozen shoulder to more permanent things like arthritis, MS, stroke and cerebral palsy. Bras are a particularly acute problem. That's because traditional bras require two hands, high dexterity to connect the hooks, and the ability to move your shoulders behind you. Hi, I'm Nicole Cuervo, founder and CEO of Springrose. We design adaptive intimate apparel to improve quality of life for women with limited mobility. We've designed an adaptive bra that gives women back their time, their dignity and their independence. It can be put on multiple different ways, including with one hand, or with limited dexterity or two bad shoulders by putting it overhead or stepping into it. Adaptive apparel is expected to reach $400 billion by 2026 worldwide. North America is responsible for 46% of that, so the opportunity is there. And we know women want this because on ad tests, we had ten times the click-through rate at one fifth of the cost of industry averages. And that's because there's no good solution on the market right now. Currently, women must compromise. They have to compromise on functionality, comfort, attractiveness, sizing, or safety with pacemakers and other health implants. With us, there is no compromise. And here are some comments from women who tried our product. Pamela mentions how she loved having something easy to take off at the end of the day when she had a flare up from a multiple sclerosis. Suzanne enjoyed the flexibility and the design, because with her chronic pain, she doesn't know how she's gonna wake up some days. And Libby mentioned how comfortable the bra was, which is what customers care the most about in our survey tests. As such, our go-to-market strategy is threefold. First, we're investing in search and digital ads, which we have already done really well in, and there are specific long-tail keywords that people are looking for, such as "bra for women with arthritic hands" and "bra for stroke survivors" that apply to us. We're also partnering with physical and occupational therapists across the country so they can recommend our product to their patients. And we are doing pop-ups around senior living and retirement communities because we know that 84% of apparel purchases still happen through a combination of online and in-person. We launched with pre-orders in May and already have sales. And we're launching fully in market at the end of summer. I hope you'll join us in improving quality of life for millions of people. You can buy our bra for yourself or a loved one, and if you're a clinician, you can email me to set up a demo and get your free samples, or you can connect with me and we can figure out how else we can partner. Thank you so much. [38:58 - 39:50] Brandon Biggs, XR Navigation Hello, my name is Brandon Biggs and I am the CEO of XR Navigation. Both my cofounder, Chris, and I are blind, which means we've never had access to digital geographic information. But most geographic information is presented exclusively in the digital format. This means that we, along with the 285 million blind individuals in the world, have never had access to information on weather maps, voting maps, or more crucially, evacuation maps. Last year, during the wildfires in California, I had no idea where the fire was to know if I should evacuate, and if so, where to, because I couldn't see the map. The Americans with Disabilities Act says every public website needs to be accessible. But here is my experience with the 99% of maps on the web today with my screen-reader. [39:50 - 39:58] Computer Clickable show street map radio menu item check submenu. Out of menu bar nav clickable. Blank. Blank. Blank. [39:58 - 40:46] Brandon Biggs The other 1% of maps use a text alternative, such as tables or turn-by-turn directions, that completely remove the geographic information that makes a map a map. Can you imagine looking at a map and only seeing turn-by-turn directions? We couldn't. So we invented Audiom, the world's most inclusive digital, visual, auditory and tactile map viewer and editor. Audiom can either supplement or completely replace existing mapping solutions with only a few lines of code. Our patented auditory and tactile solution allows blind users to freely access geographic information by moving a character around the map with their arrow keys or other controller, very similar to a game. [40:46 - 40:49] Computer Blank space, 27 44. [40:49 - 42:02] Brandon Biggs This allows users to understand the spatial relationships between locations. Whether you're trying to find the bathroom at a football stadium or wanting to know COVID cases in nearby states, Audiom allows blind and sighted users to fully access geographic information. We currently have three paying customers that represent our initial customer segment of businesses, governments, universities and colleges with a blind population and who lack the infrastructure to allow them to navigate their campus. Legislation and legal action are at an all-time high around digital accessibility, costing businesses and governments billions of dollars each year. We are proud to be the first inclusive map viewer on the market, and thankfully for our customers, onboarding to Audiom only requires an initial implementation and yearly licensing fee. Our team is mostly blind and has decades of experience in the blindness and assistive technology-related startup space. I am getting my PhD on non-visual mapping with one of the most renowned sonification researchers in the world. If you would like to learn more, we would love to talk with you about making the world more inclusive. Thank you. [42:20 - 43:54] Alex Dunn, Enabled Play Hi, I'm Alex Dunn, the founder of Enabled Play, the platform that integrates personalised and accessible controls to help brands reach and support more customers of all abilities. We got started building AI-augmented controls because in 2020, my brother Bryan was trying to keep up with his friends while playing video games, but he was getting left behind. And as an AI engineer and former founder, I knew there had to be a simple fix for this, a new way to communicate with devices and software that adapt to the individual rather than pushing them to depend on hardware that isn't accessible or equitable to them. And it got us thinking. Because the truth is that over 600 million people globally cannot access technology because simple software is not designed for their accessibility needs. Here in the US, that's nearly one in five Americans. And as 91% of businesses now expect their customers to engage with their business in a software-first platform, it means they're leaving behind 600 million potential customers. As an example, for one of our customers, a Fortune 50 bank, they estimate that there is more than 12 million unbanked or underbanked prospect customers in the US alone who cannot become their customer because their applications are not accessible. That's money that they, and anyone else who is trying to reach more customers, is leaving on the table. In fact, we estimate that enterprise businesses are leaving on average $33 billion in revenue by not building for accessibility. So we built Enabled Play, a personalised set of controls for users that let them augment and automate their technology with voice controls, face expressions, body gestures, motion controls, virtual buttons and more. [43:54 - 43:57] Computer New slide. Type this is my new title. [43:57 - 46:21] Alex Dunn It's a platform that adapts to each user's abilities using the latest innovations in AI and machine learning. Even more importantly, it can also operate entirely offline, so your voice and video is never recorded, it's never streamed and it's never shared beyond the device you're using. Finally, it allows each user to bring their personalised profiles and preferences to each app, game and service they want to control, which means businesses don't have to find the right way to support each unique user's needs and preferences. They've already been empowered to do that for themselves and can bring those preferences and controls directly to your apps, games, websites and services. It also provides a new surface for your business's services to be discovered, too. We recently finished raising our seed investment round and are not looking for additional investors at this point, but we're eager to meet with heads of accessibility, DE&I and technology working at companies that are eager to discover how, through a simple software integration with our platform, they can gain access to hundreds of millions of new users, too. [44:56 - 45:13] Filipa Araujo, Remarkable What a spectacular group of startups we've had present today. I'm sure you'll agree, they did an incredible job and are having a massive impact on our world. But today is not just about passively watching. We can all help support and amplify the work of these entrepreneurs. [45:13 - 45:39] Molly Levitt, Remarkable That's right, so don't be afraid to reach out to the founders you heard from today. Now, before we wrap things up, a number of you watching tonight may have your own startup brewing. If you're ready to take the next step in solving a problem in the disability and aging space, we'd love to support your journey. You can sign up for updates on application launch or book a meeting with one of the Remarkable team members to start this conversation. More info will be shared on this with you tomorrow, so make sure to check your inbox. [45:40 - 46:06] Filipa Araujo Before we go, on behalf of Remarkable, Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, I would like to thank our incredible partners, Telstra Foundation, icare New South Wales, Vivcourt, TPG Telecom Foundation and The Ian Potter Foundation, for making this event possible. And to you for joining us today for your support to create a more accessible and inclusive future.

2023 Remarkable Demo Day | Screening 2

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#RA23 Demo Day Transcript [01:10 - 01:16] Filipa Araujo, Remarkable Welcome to Remarkable Demo Day 2023. My name is Filipa and I'm the Head of Programs at Remarkable. [01:16 - 01:30] Molly Levitt, Remarkable And my name is Molly and I'm the Director of Remarkable US. This is our second year running a US program after a successful 2022 pilot and we're thrilled to have a full cohort of US startups in this year's program. [01:30 - 02:07] Filipa Araujo This event celebrates our eighth cohort of startups that have completed a Remarkable accelerator. And this year, our program welcomed founders from across the globe, including companies from Canada and the United Kingdom, as well as Australia. And as Molly mentioned, it also marks the second official cohort out of the United States. From brain-computer interface technology in everyday life to extended reality navigation solutions, in the next hour, you're going to hear from the founders of exciting disability tech startups who are building products designed to positively impact the lives of people with disabilities. [02:07 - 02:39] Molly Levitt This screening includes sign interpretation, closed captions and audio description. We also invite you to join the conversation on social media. We're on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram. And please use the hashtag #DisabilityTech. During the pitches, if you love what you're seeing and want to learn more, just go to the buttons at the bottom of the screen. There you will find a few different options for how you can learn more about the pitch you're watching, including accessing the pitch materials or connecting directly with the startup. The startups are online now and would be thrilled to hear from you. [02:39 - 03:14] Filipa Araujo Remarkable is made possible by Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation. And we would like to thank the generous support of our partners, Telstra Foundation, icare New South Wales, Vivcourt, TPG Telecom Foundation and The Ian Potter Foundation. The startups will be presented one after the other with a short intermission in the middle. You can see the order of the startups presenting below on your screen. Without further ado, I am excited to now pass the screen over to our first group of startups. [3:16 - 6:40] Souvik Paul, Aurie Nine years ago, my sister-in-law Carina sustained a spinal cord injury in a car accident. As she began her rehab, I learned that people with SCI would rather improve their bladder function than be able to walk again. That's why I started Aurie. My name is Souvik Paul and our mission at Aurie is to prevent life-threatening infections for intermittent catheter users. Carina is one of 600,000 people in the US who need to use six to eight single-use intermittent catheters a day. These catheters are basically plastic straws with holes on either end. To use them, users go into the bathroom, insert the catheter into the urethra and leave it in until urine stops flowing from the bladder. Afterwards, these catheters are removed and thrown away. And altogether, over $2 billion worth of catheters are purchased in the US every year. The problem is that urinary tract infections are a leading cause of death for people with spinal cord injuries and other intermittent catheter users. There is a 50% annual chance of a severe complicated UTI due to the use of standard catheters. The average user experiences one to two UTIs a year, and an annual supply of these catheters is about $5,000. There are safer no-touch catheters that reduce infections by over 30% because of their insertion sleeves and introducer tips that reduce contact contamination. Because they cost almost $20,000 for an annual supply, they are covered for less than 7% of Medicare patients. Aurie uses a tech-enabled approach to make intermittent catheterisation safer, more convenient and more sustainable. Our reusable no-touch catheters have the same features that help reduce UTIs, but are designed to be reused 100 times with our patented portable smart catheter case, which completely automates the cleaning, disinfection and lubrication of catheters with tap water and pre-packaged supplies. When we surveyed catheter users, 81% wanted to switch to our system. Why? Because our system allows us to provide infection-reducing features of no-touch catheters at the same price point as standard catheters. We provide a cost-effective means to reduce urinary tract infections for our users. We've demonstrated repeatable and robust disinfection efficacy with early prototypes at the University of Notre Dame. We've further developed the prototypes and are preparing for FDA submission in early 2024. We have four issued patents, one pending patent, and additional planned submissions. We have FDA sign-off on our testing strategy and the FDA has even granted us the Safer Technologies Designation after reviewing our early test data. We're expecting expedited review once we do submit. The team at Aurie has over 75 years of experience in healthcare, has commercialised 17 medical devices, and has sold over $50 million in durable medical equipment. We have a broad coalition of support from investors like Lakehouse Ventures and grant-funders like the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Disabilities, all of whom believe in our mission. We're always looking to connect with like-minded investors & innovators. Join us in making infections and preventable death a thing of the past for catheter users. [6:43 - 8:27] Thane Hunt, Hominid X There's probably an object next to you right now. Pick it up, but without squeezing your fingers. It's impossible. I'm Thane Hunt, founder and CEO of Hominid X. We build wearable tools that help people to reclaim the use of their hands. Why? Because there are over 200 million people who can't use their hands, making everyday tasks difficult or impossible. Physical therapy can help, but often takes years and won't result in a full recovery. And in the meantime, the adaptive solutions are either specialised to one task or too expensive. So we designed Fiber, our easy-to-use, adaptive grasping tool that empowers its user with a secure and versatile grip around almost any object. A user can put it on in under 30 seconds and wear it comfortably all day to help them complete any task that requires grip strength. Our design guides the hand into a variety of different grasps, and it does this without any cumbersome motors or batteries. That's right, our solution is entirely mechanical. There is no other product like it and we're patent-protected. Our early testers have held thousands of different objects and the results are clear. People with hand disabilities are riding bicycles, preparing food and getting back to doing what they love. Let's take an example, Megan, who loves to bake. Megan suffered a stroke when she was younger and lost the ability to use her left hand. When we met, she was using just one hand for her baking projects. Now with Fiber, she's using both hands. She's been able to focus more on her recipes and less on her grasp. She recently opened a bakery and summed up the magic of her experience with Fiber to her followers on TikTok. [8:27 - 8:35] Megan Dude, it works! I did it! Easy-peasy. Oh, this makes me so happy! I haven't been able to do this for years. [8:35 - 9:33] Thane Hunt Stories like Megan's are everywhere. Millions of people needed help with grasping and holding and they haven't been served until now. We sell our products directly to the users or through their occupational therapists. Since launching Fiber last year, we've worked with clinicians and users all across the United States. Once someone wears Fiber, they understand. We have a strong team. With my background in prosthetics and hardware development, I invented Fiber.My co-founder, Soniya, did the marketing for a $200 million revenue business. And our manufacturing leader, Junior, brings 20 years of experience in scaling new products to mass production. Try to imagine someone you care about being unable to pick up the phone when you call or giving up on their hobby because they lack the grip strength to do it. With Fiber, we've already been able to put the most fulfilling moments of people's lives back into their own hands. So visit us online at HominidX.com to purchase Fiber or to schedule a demo. And together, we'll create a world where no hand is left behind. Thank you. [9:50 - 13:48] Kara Allanach, SpineX Imagine if you or someone you love was unable to move their body as they pleased or control bladder function on their own. For millions of people in the US living with neurological conditions, this is their reality. Here at SpineX, we are developing incredible new technology to treat these conditions by using electrical impulses to retrain the spinal cord. Our technology is built on groundbreaking research from the top scientists in the field of neuromodulation and is done non-invasively, without needles or surgery. Although our technology has many potential applications, we have chosen to focus our first two commercial products on conditions with huge unmet clinical needs, movement disorder in children with cerebral palsy, or CP, and incontinence in adults with neurogenic bladder. These conditions together affect more than 2.5 million Americans. Existing treatments are simply not good enough because they don't fix the problems, they only reduce symptoms. At best, they're short-term solutions, like drugs that cover up symptoms but have unmanageable side effects. And at worst, they're invasive treatments, like Botox injections or nerve-severing surgery, causing irreversible long-term reductions in function. With SpineX, now there is hope for these patients and their families. This is a three-year-old child with CP. Before SpineX, he was unable to take steps on his own. But when we provided SpineX therapy, within five minutes, he was able to take steps. We have seen similar results, in line with their functional level, with nearly all of the more than 40 children who have undergone treatment with SpineX therapy so far. The really exciting part? We see durable improvements that last for several months beyond the final SpineX therapy treatment. Nothing else on the market can do this. Neurogenic bladder, or NB, is common in spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis and stroke. NB often involves incontinence, frequent urinary tract infections, loss of sleep from night-time voids, and use of catheters to empty the bladder. For some people, catheterisation can take 20 minutes each time and must be done anywhere from four to more than ten times per day, including several times through the night. With SpineX therapy, we're able to reduce incontinence episodes by 70%. And if leaks do happen, they're smaller. Patients report feeling more in control, they don't need as many catheters and they can finally sleep through the night. How does it work? The common thread between all of these conditions is that messages between the brain and the spinal cord don't get through clearly. SpineX technology acts like a hearing aid for the spinal cord, amplifying the signals that need to get through while cutting out background noise. We deliver special electrical pulses through the skin to rewire brain patterns and encourage neuroplasticity, producing long-term results. What's next? Our team of highly-experienced medtech professionals is excited to bring these technologies to market. We expect to receive FDA approval for and launch the first of our products in late 2024. We will reach our target customers by working directly with our collaborators in the hospitals, rehabilitation centres and physical therapy clinics where they are already being treated so that we can make sure that we reach as many potential users as possible. We've been told by our patients and their families that the impact of our technology is magical, and we agree. Join us in our quest to bring this amazing technology to market. We're launching a financing round, recruiting for clinical trials, and interested in talking to people with lived experience with any of these conditions. Please reach out to us. We would love to talk to you. [13:55 - 16:52] Nicole Cuervo, Springrose My grandmother Rose was an unstoppable woman but she had chronic pain and arthritis that made it challenging to get dressed in the morning. And she's not alone. In the US, one in three adult women has some form of limited mobility. That's because there are 50 different injuries, illnesses and disabilities that affect women of all ages and impact their ability to get dressed painlessly and independently. Everything from a temporary broken bone or frozen shoulder to more permanent things like arthritis, MS, stroke and cerebral palsy. Bras are a particularly acute problem. That's because traditional bras require two hands, high dexterity to connect the hooks, and the ability to move your shoulders behind you. Hi, I'm Nicole Cuervo, founder and CEO of Springrose. We design adaptive intimate apparel to improve quality of life for women with limited mobility. We've designed an adaptive bra that gives women back their time, their dignity and their independence. It can be put on multiple different ways, including with one hand, or with limited dexterity or two bad shoulders by putting it overhead or stepping into it. Adaptive apparel is expected to reach $400 billion by 2026 worldwide. North America is responsible for 46% of that, so the opportunity is there. And we know women want this because on ad tests, we had ten times the click-through rate at one fifth of the cost of industry averages. And that's because there's no good solution on the market right now. Currently, women must compromise. They have to compromise on functionality, comfort, attractiveness, sizing, or safety with pacemakers and other health implants. With us, there is no compromise. And here are some comments from women who tried our product. Pamela mentions how she loved having something easy to take off at the end of the day when she had a flare up from a multiple sclerosis. Suzanne enjoyed the flexibility and the design, because with her chronic pain, she doesn't know how she's gonna wake up some days. And Libby mentioned how comfortable the bra was, which is what customers care the most about in our survey tests. As such, our go-to-market strategy is threefold. First, we're investing in search and digital ads, which we have already done really well in, and there are specific long-tail keywords that people are looking for, such as "bra for women with arthritic hands" and "bra for stroke survivors" that apply to us. We're also partnering with physical and occupational therapists across the country so they can recommend our product to their patients. And we are doing pop-ups around senior living and retirement communities because we know that 84% of apparel purchases still happen through a combination of online and in-person. We launched with pre-orders in May and already have sales. And we're launching fully in market at the end of summer. I hope you'll join us in improving quality of life for millions of people. You can buy our bra for yourself or a loved one, and if you're a clinician, you can email me to set up a demo and get your free samples, or you can connect with me and we can figure out how else we can partner. Thank you so much. [17:05 - 18:02] Brandon Biggs, XR Navigation Hello, my name is Brandon Biggs and I am the CEO of XR Navigation. Both my cofounder, Chris, and I are blind, which means we've never had access to digital geographic information. But most geographic information is presented exclusively in the digital format. This means that we, along with the 285 million blind individuals in the world, have never had access to information on weather maps, voting maps, or more crucially, evacuation maps. Last year, during the wildfires in California, I had no idea where the fire was to know if I should evacuate, and if so, where to, because I couldn't see the map. The Americans with Disabilities Act says every public website needs to be accessible. But here is my experience with the 99% of maps on the web today with my screen-reader. [18:02 - 18:10] Computer Clickable show street map radio menu item check submenu. Out of menu bar nav clickable. Blank. Blank. Blank. [18:10 - 18:57] Brandon Biggs The other 1% of maps use a text alternative, such as tables or turn-by-turn directions, that completely remove the geographic information that makes a map a map. Can you imagine looking at a map and only seeing turn-by-turn directions? We couldn't. So we invented Audiom, the world's most inclusive digital, visual, auditory and tactile map viewer and editor. Audiom can either supplement or completely replace existing mapping solutions with only a few lines of code. Our patented auditory and tactile solution allows blind users to freely access geographic information by moving a character around the map with their arrow keys or other controller, very similar to a game. [18:57 - 19:00] Computer Blank space, 27 44. [19:00 - 20:14] Brandon Biggs This allows users to understand the spatial relationships between locations. Whether you're trying to find the bathroom at a football stadium or wanting to know COVID cases in nearby states, Audiom allows blind and sighted users to fully access geographic information. We currently have three paying customers that represent our initial customer segment of businesses, governments, universities and colleges with a blind population and who lack the infrastructure to allow them to navigate their campus. Legislation and legal action are at an all-time high around digital accessibility, costing businesses and governments billions of dollars each year. We are proud to be the first inclusive map viewer on the market, and thankfully for our customers, onboarding to Audiom only requires an initial implementation and yearly licensing fee. Our team is mostly blind and has decades of experience in the blindness and assistive technology-related startup space. I am getting my PhD on non-visual mapping with one of the most renowned sonification researchers in the world. If you would like to learn more, we would love to talk with you about making the world more inclusive. Thank you. [20:32 - 22:01] Alex Dunn, Enabled Play Hi, I'm Alex Dunn, the founder of Enabled Play, the platform that integrates personalised and accessible controls to help brands reach and support more customers of all abilities. We got started building AI-augmented controls because in 2020, my brother Bryan was trying to keep up with his friends while playing video games, but he was getting left behind. And as an AI engineer and former founder, I knew there had to be a simple fix for this, a new way to communicate with devices and software that adapt to the individual rather than pushing them to depend on hardware that isn't accessible or equitable to them. And it got us thinking. Because the truth is that over 600 million people globally cannot access technology because simple software is not designed for their accessibility needs. Here in the US, that's nearly one in five Americans. And as 91% of businesses now expect their customers to engage with their business in a software-first platform, it means they're leaving behind 600 million potential customers. As an example, for one of our customers, a Fortune 50 bank, they estimate that there is more than 12 million unbanked or underbanked prospect customers in the US alone who cannot become their customer because their applications are not accessible. That's money that they, and anyone else who is trying to reach more customers, is leaving on the table. In fact, we estimate that enterprise businesses are leaving on average $33 billion in revenue by not building for accessibility. So we built Enabled Play, a personalised set of controls for users that let them augment and automate their technology with voice controls, face expressions, body gestures, motion controls, virtual buttons and more. [22:01 - 22:09] Computer New slide. Type this is my new title. [22:09 - 23:00] Alex Dunn It's a platform that adapts to each user's abilities using the latest innovations in AI and machine learning. Even more importantly, it can also operate entirely offline, so your voice and video is never recorded, it's never streamed and it's never shared beyond the device you're using. Finally, it allows each user to bring their personalised profiles and preferences to each app, game and service they want to control, which means businesses don't have to find the right way to support each unique user's needs and preferences. They've already been empowered to do that for themselves and can bring those preferences and controls directly to your apps, games, websites and services. It also provides a new surface for your business's services to be discovered, too. We recently finished raising our seed investment round and are not looking for additional investors at this point, but we're eager to meet with heads of accessibility, DE&I and technology working at companies that are eager to discover how, through a simple software integration with our platform, they can gain access to hundreds of millions of new users, too. [23:08 - 23:22] Filipa Araujo, Remarkable I would like to introduce Jackie Coates from Telstra Foundation, who has been one of our longest ongoing supporters. Jackie will be announcing the winner of this year's Telstra People's Choice Award, a cash prize to one of the cohort from this year. [23:22 - 23:49] Jackie Coates, Telstra Foundation Hi, everyone. It's great to be part of Remarkable Demo Day again this year. Thought I'd cut straight to it and announce that the Telstra People's Choice Award this year goes to Focus Bear! Congratulations, Focus Bear. You'll receive a $5,000 donation from the Telstra Foundation. And congratulations to the whole Remarkable team and all the amazing startups. We think you do an incredible job making the world more inclusive for everyone. Have a great Demo Day. Bye! [23:49 - 23:57] Molly Levitt, Remarkable We're excited to welcome you back. Now to enjoy the second half of Demo Day, featuring an amazing group of RA23 startup pitches. [24:15 - 25:41] Pete Beckett, Indii This is Sofii, the adaptable switch for your home. And this is Sophie, my youngest sister. Sophie is a genuine ray of sunshine who finds her joy in good food and singing Christmas songs all year round. In 2001, Sophie experienced a severe brain trauma, and as a result, now requires one-to-one care on a daily basis. Sophie's experience is what inspires our vision. Hi. I'm Pete Beckett, the founder of Indii, and we're developing technology to enable the tens of millions of people with motor disabilities who stand to benefit from integrating smart-home technology into their homes. Currently, home tech is limited by its input devices. In a world ruled by phone apps, quick and universal control is not a given. Voice assistants have been a great step in the right direction, but there are many scenarios where users cannot or do not want to use their voice as a primary input method. Meanwhile, companies operating in the assistive tech space excel in designing solutions with specific user requirements. Unfortunately, to date, most implementations of environmental control have been prohibitively expensive and limited in both scope and capability. That's what led us to develop Sofii, the switch, not the sister. Sofii supports adaptive switches and offers audio-visual feedback and connects directly to the smart home without the need for a mobile device. [25:41 - 25:48] Sofii This button controls your bedroom lights. Press the button again to toggle on and off. [25:48 - 26:42] Pete Beckett Sofii can act as a Bluetooth switch for iPads, phones and computers, and at just $350, is more capable than its nearest Bluetooth-only rivals, and for a lower price. Over the past 18 months, we've developed the hardware and software, and tested with new potential users. We're now really close to delivering on our mission of providing new and improved ways to enable independence at home. But the next 18 months is set to be even more exciting. This spring, we're welcoming interested parties to evaluate our hardware and explore commercial partnerships as we move towards a launch, selling into the NDIS early next year. And this is just the beginning. In the future, we want to take our tech out of the home and into public spaces, providing more convenient ways for our customers to interact with the world around them. And all this thanks to Sofii, the switch and the sister. [26:49 - 30:20] Brianna MacDonald, The Care Co I'd like you to imagine a primary school class. This might be your child's class or a child you know and there could be about 30 kids. If it's a classroom of 30 kids, we expect about one in five of those children to have already experienced a traumatic event. We expect one in seven of those kids to already or soon to be struggling with their mental health. And on average, about one in ten of those young people is disabled. I'm sure you can imagine, in a classroom of 30 children, that's a lot of need. And unfortunately, it doesn't stop there. We know that one in three adults struggles with their mental health. We're losing about $5 trillion in the workplace and one in five sick days for the same reason. Depression, anxiety and substance abuse disorder are three of the world's leading disabilities. And it's expected that almost all people will face at least one significantly traumatic event in their lifetime. The problem isn't just our declining level of mental health and wellbeing. The problem is that we're not learning the skills needed to manage these challenges and we simply don't have enough supply to meet the need. My name is Brianna and I'm the founder of The Care Co. I'm a Canadian First Nations woman studying a Masters in Psychology with Harvard. I've worked in the trauma-informed education space, am a two-time entrepreneur, and 20 years ago, I was a Care Co kid. Now a flourishing, healthy adult, I'm just one example of what can be achieved with early intervention. And I spend a lot of time looking for where the opportunities are. Chances are you or someone you know is a parent or guardian and you're probably pretty busy. While you may not feel like a mental health expert, you've got one silver lining. Chances are you send your child to school. If you're an educator, you might feel plagued with questions like, "How do I teach mental health in the classroom?" Again, an opportunity. You're teaching fundamental life skills every day. Psychologists are a fantastic, effective model, and while they're hard to scale in their current form, the psychology community gives us an evidence-based best-practice way to work with kids. And this brings us to The Care Co. The Care Co is an in-classroom software that teaches kids between the ages of five and 12 mental health habits. A self-paced learning tool, we offer easy lesson planning, agency, and a unique way to build mental health habits from day one. One of the features we're super proud of include our ability-based, evidence-based model,support for school disability funding reports, and activities that are mapped to health subject teaching needs. So where do we go from here? We're beta testing our app with five schools and 1,500 students. Next we're partnering with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance and positioning The Care Co in front of about 1,200 schools in September 2023, and officially launch in October. Our future plans include the psychology, disability and social work communities, as well as an app for parents and guardians at home. And we have one really audacious goal - "every child, every school." To get there, we offer subscriptions priced per student per month. Schools can choose a six-month or 12-month licence. And considering the two billion kids worldwide, we're just getting started. First targeting one million students, we'll be grossing $60 million in annual recurring revenue if we reach that goal. For those ready to see mental health skills taught in every school, I ask that you scan this QR code to view a product demo, visit our website, or join our product updates and investment opportunity newsletters. And if you're onboard with our North star, join our mission. We would love to have you along. [30:39 - 33:40] Ricardo Garcia-Rosas, Virtetic If you were to get a leg or an arm amputated, you'd need to wait over four months to get access to a prosthesis. While you wait, you lose function in the affected limb and become more at risk of suffering phantom limb pain throughout your life. This time delay costs healthcare systems around the world over $5 billion every year. I'm Ricardo, co-founder and CEO of Virtetic, a digital health company enabling people to kick-start their journey with a prosthesis through the power of games and immersive technologies. By practising with a virtual prosthesis, people can start functional rehabilitation and learn to use a prosthesis as soon as they can start with therapy. We co-design our gamified clinical interventions with the community to ensure they are evidence-based and representative of living with a prosthesis. Ultimately, our products help people to be able to fully use their prosthesis from day one. Our first product, Myo-Hand XP, allows people to learn to use a prosthetic hand through guided practice in VR. Our second product helps people manage their phantom limb pain through active limb visualisations in VR. Our products can be used in the clinic or at home as prescribed by a qualified clinician, which can be covered by disability insurance, like the NDIS, TAC and iCare. Virtetic provides all the hardware, software, training and support that both clinicians and their patients need to use our products. We partner with prosthesis manufacturers to feature their products within our system, helping them reach potential customers at an earlier stage. That is why for the past two years, the number one prosthesis manufacturer, Ottobock, has been collaborating with us to incorporate their products into our system. We have submitted the regulatory application in Australia for our first product, and we plan to submit the application for the second product in the first quarter of next year. We work with two clinics in Melbourne who are ready to pilot our products to validate their clinical effectiveness and the business model of our offering. These pilots will inform our commercial roll-out throughout Australia and how we can work with Ottobock to bring our offerings to the world. We are a diverse and passionate team with a wealth of experience in the development and research of virtual reality and prosthetic devices, complemented by expertise in finance and management consulting. Our clinical advisors are expert clinical practitioners and world-leading researchers in prosthetics, rehabilitation and pain science. Our commercialisation advisors are global leaders in the commercialisation of medical devices. But most importantly, we share a passion about making a positive impact in the lives of people living with limb loss. Following regulatory approval, we will launch our first product with partner clinics. To help drive revenues and growth, we'll be seeking further capital in the next six months to scale our product offerings in Australia. If you are interested in joining us, please reach out. [33:55 - 37:22] Kyle Cortesi, MEMORehab Hi, everyone. We are MEMORehab and our mission is to enhance the experience of cognitive rehabilitation so we can make it more accessible, supportive and data-driven. We are a post-revenue company looking for partners to help us increase our outreach and grow our platform. Globally, one in six people will live with a neurological condition, resulting from things like stroke, epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and more. Sadly, many patients cannot access cognitive rehab due to the inability to travel independently, their distance from the clinic, or the lack of clinicians available with the time or space to run interventions. Even when interventions are available, patients often lack the tools to practise newly-learned skills or establish new habits. And clinicians are often unable to monitor how their patients are engaging with the program outside the clinic, leaving them unable to provide support when it's needed most. At MEMORehab, we support both clinicians and patients through the rehabilitation journey. For clinicians, we allow them to reach patients from anywhere using telehealth and track their patients' progress with data analytics. For patients, we help them better understand their condition by providing educational resources and reinforce newly-learned skills using computerised training and automatic reminders. Imagine the efficiency. Weekly, group-based telehealth sessions, practice with digital tools, and consistent feedback. We have begun our journey by adapting a well-established, group-based memory intervention to our platform with over ten years of clinical research backing its efficacy. And in the future, we aim to expand our services by adapting additional well-established interventions to our delivery model. Right now, we are working on several projects to support MEMORehab, like building a dedicated research platform to test our materials, training and education programs for clinicians via accredited workshops and seminars, and a clinician registry to help patients find the right professional. Since our incorporation in 2021, we have worked with organisations, universities and hospitals. For example, we have partnered with both local and international organisations in the neurological injury space. We have teamed up with universities such as Monash to conduct clinical research, showing that patients using our platform increased in several key areas related to memory. And we are proud to say that major hospitals, health districts and clinics across the country have purchased our annual licences, with dozens of patients successfully using MEMORehab. Our team brings a wealth of passion and experience, including Laurie Miller, a clinical neuropsychologist with 30 years of experience. Kyle Cortesi, that's me, with experience in program management, and Pranshu Midha, a skilled front-end developer. Today, we're seeking partners who believe in our vision. So if you can help us reach more clinicians, link them with patients, or add interventions to our platform, we would love to hear from you. So if you are interested in joining us to revolutionise cognitive rehabilitation, use the QR code to visit our website and let's schedule a call. With MEMORehab, we're not just imagining the future of cognitive rehabilitation, we're building it. [37:36 - 41:38] Dion Kelly, Possibility Neurotechnologies I'm Dion Kelly, Co-Founder and CEO of Possibility Neurotechnologies, the company that's empowering the future of inclusion with our assistive technology solutions that convert thought to action. This is Claire. Claire is a six-year-old girl with quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She can't speak or move, which hinders her ability to use current assistive technologies. Though she's very smart and capable, her physical limitations often make it difficult for her to communicate and express her abilities. Around the world, there are millions of children like Claire who face similar challenges. Their access to basic human rights, including self-expression, play and independence, is often restricted. Brain-Computer Interfaces, or BCIs, allow users to control devices using their brainwaves, including household appliances and power mobility chairs. However, BCIs and their applications are not yet readily available to the end-users like Claire because the middle component enabling control of these external devices has been confined to research environments. Our proprietary technology, the Think2Switch, fills this gap in providing a bridge between BCIs and the devices that they can control. Using a BCI headset, a user can think about a desired intention and use that thought to control a switch-adapted device through translation of the thought to action by the Think2Switch. We're packaging our Think2Switch with a commercial BCI headset and environmental control device to provide a ready-to-use, plug-and-play solution for children to immediately access their environments and participate in life activities. We've innovatively filled a significant gap in the market with our user-friendly, portable Think2Switch system. Unlike existing middleware solutions that are typically restricted to lab environments, our unique system is portable and ready for immediate plug-and-play application. Our initial target market is children with quadriplegia, of which there are 36,000 resulting from CP in developed countries alone. Our entry into this market will leverage specialised healthcare networks, therapeutic communities and targeted marketing strategies. Subsequently, we plan to expand our reach to adults with quadriplegia, a demographic of more than nine million individuals in developed countries. This will involve partnerships with rehabilitation centres, adult care facilities and relevant healthcare providers. Our long-term strategy involves penetrating the mass market of able-bodied children, a demographic of approximately 80 million in North America. In this phase, we'll leverage mainstream retail channels and broad-based marketing strategies. With our Think2Switch technology, Claire is actively participating in activities that were once impossible, from baking cookies with her little brothers, to blending her own meals, making lemonade, and even participating in their family tradition of pickling. Claire's mom said, "It's a light at the end of the tunnel. The possibilities are endless." As one of the few teams globally focused on researching BCIs for children, our multidisciplinary group of clinicians, engineers and business development specialists are leading the way in this untapped market. With a shared passion for making a difference, we're driving forward the development of integrated BCI solutions. We believe that everyone deserves equal opportunities and our vision is to foster an inclusive society where this is possible. Our next goal is to significantly expand access to our product to better serve our primary target market of children with quadriplegia. In order to achieve this, we're planning to raise a $2 million funding round later this year. If you're a passionate investor who shares our vision of an inclusive society, we'd love to start a conversation. We're also interested in connecting with potential partners and customers who could benefit from our technology. With your support, we can bring BCI to the millions of individuals who need it most. Let's work together to create a future where everyone, regardless of their physical abilities, has the chance to express themselves, to play, to create and to live independently. Are you ready to join us on this journey? [41:55 - 44:45] Jeremy Nagel, Focus Bear Hey, I'm Jeremy, the founder of Focus Bear. I've got ADHD and autism, which is my superpower. My brain constantly fires out creative ideas and I can concentrate on my ideas for hours on end. I've started multiple businesses, I sold my last one, and have had a pretty good career. However, it didn't start that way. I got fired from my first five jobs, which was both financially destabilising and a massive hit to my self esteem. I turned my career around, but many neurodivergent people never experience stable employment. Unemployment rates amongst people with autism are eight times higher than for neurotypical folks, and it's also an issue for people with ADHD. With more and more people getting diagnosed, this issue is only getting worse. We need a way to tap into the creativity and problem-solving skills that neurodivergent people can offer. I've been working on an app called Focus Bear that can help neurodivergent people channel their hyperfocus and not get distracted. Speaking of channels, I found an awesome competitive axe-throwing channel on Youtube. It's so good that I just have to show you it right now. Oh, this pop-up is saying that axe-throwing might not be relevant to delivering the pitch. It's probably right. Did I mention I have ADHD? I should probably go back to telling you about the app. It uses AI to determine whether a website is relevant to the work you're doing. If it's not, it lets you save the page to view after work or you can block it completely. Distraction blocking isn't a new concept. Many other apps do part of what Focus Bear does. What's different about us is our focus on neurodiversity, our holistic approach, which includes daily habits and rituals, and our support of all platforms, desktop and mobile, because blocking on one device isn't enough. If I start focusing on my computer, I want my phone to be free of distractions, too. The app also prepares the brain for productivity through a unique approach to habit formation. It guides you through a morning routine one habit at a time, reducing overwhelm. The app is live in the market and we've had rave reviews from the community. We've got paying customers with excellent retention. Our business model is a monthly subscription starting at $5 US per month for consumers. I've got an outstanding team building the app with me. I'm an experienced founder with a successful exit. Manish, our lead developer, has 20 years of experience. And most of our other team members are neurodivergent and can thus empathise with our customers. We're opening a $750k fundraising round to bring Focus Bear to B2B. We've had some promising initial conversations with businesses and will be refining the product with features like a Slack and Microsoft Teams integration, hiring a B2B sales specialist and investing in marketing. The round will allow us to grow to 10,000 paying customers. To learn more, visit focusbear.io/invest. Together we can help neurodivergent people thrive in the workplace. [44:49 - 45:06] Filipa Araujo, Remarkable What a spectacular group of startups we've had present today. I'm sure you'll agree, they did an incredible job and are having a massive impact on our world. But today is not just about passively watching. We can all help support and amplify the work of these entrepreneurs. [45:07 - 45:34] Molly Levitt, Remarkable That's right, so don't be afraid to reach out to the founders you heard from today. Now, before we wrap things up, a number of you watching tonight may have your own startup brewing. If you're ready to take the next step in solving a problem in the disability and aging space, we'd love to support your journey. You can sign up for updates on application launch or book a meeting with one of the Remarkable team members to start this conversation. More info will be shared on this with you tomorrow, so make sure to check your inbox. [45:35 - 46:15] Filipa Araujo Before we go, on behalf of Remarkable, Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, I would like to thank our incredible partners, Telstra Foundation, icare New South Wales, Vivcourt, TPG Telecom Foundation and The Ian Potter Foundation, for making this event possible. And to you for joining us today for your support to create a more accessible and inclusive future.

2022 Remarkable Accelerator Demo Day | Screening 1

July 20, 2022

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Remarkable 2022 Demo Day [03:05 - 03:48] Voice over Remarkable, acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which we are gathered today. This is their land, never ceded, always sacred. And we pay respects to the elders past, present and emerging. For they hold the traditions, the culture and the hopes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the nation. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the remarkable contribution they make to Australian life. And we would also like to acknowledge the advocates who have played a role in advancing the rights of people with disability, leading to addressing the inequalities faced by people with disability. They have paved the way for us. We carry a privilege and a responsibility because of that history. We are better together. [04:00 - 05:00] Molly Levitt Did you know that with an estimated population of 1.85 billion people with disabilities are an emerging market larger than China? Their friends and family add another 3.3 billion potential customers. Together, the disability market controls over 13 trillion in disposable income. Did you know that for every dollar invested in assistive technology, there is a $9 return? And did you know that the internet ebooks, your electric toothbrush and so many more of the products and technologies that are most ubiquitous in your life right now were built first for people with disabilities. Today, you're going to hear from founders who are building products designed to positively impact the lives of people with disabilities, which, as you now know, inevitably means positive outcomes for the world at large and the bottom line. We can't wait for you to meet our teams. [05:00 - 07:29] Pete Horsley Welcome to the remarkable demo day 2022. My name is Pete Horsley, founder of Remarkable. I'm so excited to have you join us for this exciting event. Over the next 45 minutes, we'll invite you to join the conversation on social media or on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram. And please use the handle @RemarkableTech and #DisabilityTech. And please use capitals. This screening includes sign interpretation, closed captions and audio description. Throughout this screening, you will see interactive QR codes on screen. These are the quickest way to send direct messages to the founders, no matter what your request is. Scan the code and you're just one click away from being connected. In fact, let's try one now. Scan this QR code to send us an email. There's even a reward waiting on the other side for five lucky attendees. For those unable to interact with QR codes, don't worry. We'll share the URLs in the chat throughout this event too. There's growing momentum globally around diversity, inclusion and now accessibility. Remarkable began in 2014 with one idea. How do we get more innovative and inclusive technology into the hands of people with disabilities faster? We saw a real lack of innovation and development in technology for inclusion, so we sought to bring together entrepreneurs, authentic co-design and capital, to commercialize new technologies, to amplify human potential. And this is now our seventh cohort of startups. This year we've had the absolute privilege to build the geographic reach of Remarkable by working together with our sister organization, Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, to pilot a US program. This is the start of what will be a full cohort in the US in 2023. And this event would not be possible without the generous support of our partners. icare, Telstra, Microsoft, VivCourt, Smart Job and TPG Foundation. Technology can amplify the potential of people with disability over the next 45 minutes. You will learn more about disability tech startups who have completed our 2022 remarkable accelerator program. As part of tonight's celebrations, you will hear from eight incredible startups. Each will be introduced by their startup coach, who has worked closely with them over the last four months. I'd like to hand over to Molly to introduce WearWorks. The first of four participants in this segment. [07:38 - 08:35] Molly Levitt I'm Molly and I was lucky enough to be the coach for WearWorks. This team is on to something really special. Our senses are how we interact with the world. When you think about tech, that helps us better interact with the world through our senses. We think about audio, which helps us digest information through our ears. Tech that was transformative for people who are blind. You might think about messaging, which helps us receive and communicate information quickly through our eyes. Tech that was transformational for people who are deaf. But what about touch? People who are blind know that touch is inherently an inclusive language. But tech based on touch as a communication tool is an area of untapped potential. The WearWorks team, are haptic experts, whose first product, the way brand helps you navigate the world just through vibration. It has the potential to transform lives and make us all more present to the world around us. [08:54 - 12:36] Keith Kirkland Haptic means touch and touch is a more inclusive way to communicate information. Hi, my name is Keith Kirkland. I'm a 42 year old black American male with shoulder length locs, and I'm the co-founder of Wear Works. Several years ago, we got a call from a marathoner who was blind. He wanted to know if we could help him fulfill his dream of running in the biggest marathon in the world without being tethered to a guide. WearWorks is a haptic platform company. We build products and experiences that use the skin as a communications channel to deliver information in a more intuitive and less obtrusive way. We took on the challenge and just eight months later, he made history as the first person who was blind to run in the New York City Marathon without sighted assistance. And he did it using our very first product, WayBand. And in this video you can see him finishing the race. Navigation is inherently visual and we all use it almost every day. The space is dominated by Google through Maps and Waze, but they, like all mapping applications, rely heavily on visual cues, and visual based navigation is not always safe. Oftentimes it's not practical. And for 285 million people worldwide living with a visual impairment, it's a real problem. So we invented WayBand, a haptic navigation app and an optional wristband that gently guides you to your destination using only vibration. The WayBand app can be used with your smartphone in your hand or it can be paired with our WayBand wristband for a hands free experience. The way it works as you type or say where you want to go, confirm and you'll be guided to your destination using our patented haptic corridor. When you're in the corridor, you feel nothing. Swivel slightly to the left or the right and WayBand will gently nudge you back on the right path using your own natural sense of touch. We've tested with thousands of people and most can figure out the correct way to go within seconds without any instructions, it’s that intuitive. We're initially targeting young, blind and visually impaired students and professionals, and we've already pre sold half of our initial production to partners at Massachusetts Commission for the Blind Lighthouse Guild, Helen Keller, the New York City Department of Education, and several Paralympians. Through these influencers and channel partners, we have access to millions of potential customers that trust us. Our team has the deep expertise in touch. Kevin is an internationally award winning industrial designer, and I worked on a suit that would allow a person to download and learn kung fu using only vibrations. We both have been exploring haptics for over nine years and we're backed by a world class and diverse team. We've done the hard R&D, proven the technology, built the team and made history. In addition to selling WayBands, we see a part of our business model being driven by licensing accessible haptic navigation. We've already been in talks with organizations such as Airbnb, Disney and Google. Haptics are going to change the world for everyone. Navigation is just the beginning of our journey and we'd love to have you along. We're raising a Round. The WayBand app is available right now and this QR code will let you try it out on us for a month for free. Download it now and we're looking for connections. The heads of accessibility and government, university schools, military and enterprise. Thank you very much. And please keep in touch. [12:57 - 13:41] Kate Jenkins Hi, I'm Kate Jenkins and I'm proud to be the start up coach for the amazing Hailey Brown from VacayIt. I've loved working with Hayley throughout the accelerator program and to witness her fearless approach to tackling every challenge that comes her way. Hayley is a natural entrepreneur and leader, and I really admire the way Hayley leads her team and their co-creating design approach VacayIt is a groundbreaking platform that will not only revolutionize travel for people that have low vision and are blind, it will fundamentally change Travel marketing. I'm super excited to see where Hayley and VacayIt take off to next, and I can't wait to start using the audio guides to plan my next holiday. [14:06 -18:00] Hailey Brown Tourism marketing is predominantly visual for the 253 million blind and low vision tourists globally. This means that they have to rely on tools and platforms designed for sighted people to choose where to travel. Put simply, the tourism industry is inaccessible. But what if tourism experiences didn't need to be limited to imagery and instead could be a much more immersive, enriching experience? So instead of using just this photo of the puffing Billy Steam train, you can listen to this. Feel the magic of the steam train travel from the moment you arrive, as you inhale the smoky scent of steam billowing out of the. Vessel's chimney and are greeted by the evocative sound of the train's whistle. And that's exactly what we're doing. Hi, I'm Hayley, the founder of VacayIt. And we have created an audio guide to the world. We’re enabling travelers to make informed and independent decisions about where they want to travel. You'll be able to pick up your phone wherever and whenever and listen to the stories, sounds and history clips of the world around you. The release of VacayIt is timely with the rising popularity of audio such as podcasts and audiobooks, which right now is a largely untapped market within the tourism industry. Our stories are hosted on the VacayIt app, which allows users to navigate according to their desired needs with the use of accessible features like map, text or voice search. Spread across the country, our stories are created in collaboration with the leading destination marketing organizations on a local, regional state and national level. We are growing rapidly, bringing new stories to life every week, and we're not planning on stopping anytime soon. Currently within Australia we generate revenue via two active streams major event providers and destination marketing organizations. We're generating 600,000 annual recurring revenue via these streams and estimate an attainable market of $3 million within Australia to increase our market opportunity and capitalize on first mover advantage, we will expand our services to New Zealand and Fiji first, followed by the US and UK and will add two new revenue streams on platform booking services and user generated content. With our product and market adequate resources, increased market size and additional revenue streams, we see an opportunity to capture $20 million of the market within our first three years. We have built a strategic and dedicated team at VacayIt, hiring experts in the area of accessibility, content curation, partnership management and development. The national and global support we've had for VacayIt so far proves that it's already been a game changer for the tourism industry. Not only are we changing the lives of our users, but we're also revolutionizing the way that tourism organizations market destinations. We're looking for smart investment so that we can hire strategically and build the technology that will enable us to scale rapidly, reach new audiences, and expand into multiple global markets. Join us in creating an accessible future for the tourism industry now. Not in six months because everyone deserves a holiday. [18:02 - 19:58] Warren Bingham Hi, I'm Warren and I've had the wonderful pleasure of being the coach for Nuroflux. Being my first time as a remarkable coach, it has been an honor working alongside the awesome founders, coaches and mentors who are all focused on tackling some of the world's biggest problems. Stroke is the second leading cause of death worldwide. It is a major cause of disability, and with someone suffering a stroke every 2 seconds, there is a serious need to improve the sensitivity and quality of stroke detection and monitoring. The Nuroflux team is a powerhouse of knowledge, passion and grit and their tenacity, focus and innovative execution are driven by the values of saving and enhancing the lives of millions worldwide by improving the monitoring of stroke patients. Sam van Bohemen, co-founder and CEO of Nuroflux is a biomedical engineering PhD student with a neuroscience honors degree of which his research is focused on this life saving technology. Dr. Dr. David Cardoso, co-founder and CBO, has a PhD in medicine and is currently completing his MBA Sam and David's execution during the remarkable 22 program has been outstanding and has seen them complete their safety study, validate the market need and progress significantly towards the efficacy clinical trial. They are well on their way to launching the world's first wearable, affordable, continuous brain monitoring technology that will enable improved clinical monitoring of patients suffering stroke worldwide. Well done, Sam and David. [19:58 - 23:50] Sam van Bohemen Hi, my name is Sam and I am the CEO and co-founder of Nuroflux. When a family member suffered multiple strokes in between CT scans, we were desperate to understand why these strokes were not detected. And now, at Nuroflux, we are developing an innovative device to address this problem. Worldwide, there is a stroke every 2 seconds, and with an aging population, the incidence of stroke is expected to increase. Following a suspected stroke, a patient will come into a hospital where they will have a CT scan to confirm the diagnosis. Now CT scans provide an imaging snapshot in time, but due to radiation exposure are only performed every 24 hours. In this first 24 hour window, patients will receive treatment and are at risk of deterioration, such as having a secondary stroke, which occurs in 10% of all patients. However, there is currently no way to continuously monitor patients' brain activity and brain blood flow, which are key indicators in stroke. Standard care relies upon waiting for the next CT scan and on nurses performing intensive nursing observations. Now, as you can imagine, this is very distressing for patients and is time consuming for nurses. It is the subject of a method and is useless if the patient is unconscious. So now at Nuroflux we are developing a wearable device that will provide real time continuous monitoring of treatment and the detection of patient deterioration, leading to faster detection intervention and improved patient outcome. Our wearable device utilizes a proprietary, multi-modal system that I have developed during my PhD in biomedical engineering to provide real time continuous monitoring of brain activity and brain blood flow simultaneously, the device will be easy to use and will have alert algorithms that indicate the need for clinical action, such as the detection of secondary strokes, the neurological and diagnostic and monitoring equipment market is growing. In fact, the Asia-Pacific region is experiencing the largest growth in the sector. However, we anticipate our device will also disrupt the global diagnostic imaging market, which is valued at 37 billion AUD. Our initial foothold market will be in-hospital monitoring where we will sell devices and offer a subscription service for our software platform. However, there are also a number of exciting expansion opportunities. Our device is scalable to ambulances and at home settings to help detect stroke in the community and due to the low cost and portable nature of the device. We're also interested in rural and remote communities where there is limited access to CT and MRI scanners. Furthermore, our device may also monitor other diseases, including delirium and traumatic brain injury. David and I are the co-founders of Nuroflux. I'm a biomedical engineering Ph.D. student with a neuroscience honors degree. My co-founder, David, is a commercialization and innovation associate and a major medical research institute. He has a PhD in medicine and is completing his MBA. We are also supported by an experienced team of clinical, and strategic advisors. Nuroflux has also formed an exciting strategic partnership with the George Institute for Global Health, a Medical Research Institute to pursue a multicenter clinical efficacy trial that will take place in Sydney and will be supported by three of Australia's leading stroke clinicians. We are seeking $800,000 at a $4.1 million pre money valuation. These funds will help secure our IP position, develop our regulatory strategy and create our next generation device and software platform. We are seeking pre-seed investment and strategic partners. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out. We hope that you will join us on our journey to improve stroke patient outcomes in Australia and worldwide. [23:50 - 25:02] Ben Reid Hola, Remarkable family. My name is Ben. I'm the founder of a local venture studio called Digital Creators and I've had the privilege of working with Accessercise. This cohort getting fit is hard, it's personal and you want to feel inspired and supported along the way. Accessercise is building a global platform for people with disability to keep fit in a way which is tailored and customized for them. You can consider it my fitness pal for the disability space today. They've built a mobile app, they've got traction. They're getting strong global recognition for what they're doing And their product today is focused on content tailored for your needs and the ability for you to find fitness locations near you. Over time, they’ll look to evolve that into community offerings, bring in more of that inspiration piece, and break down any barriers that a person with disability might have to get fit. And who knows? Someone using this app might become a Paralympic silver medalist like Ali one day, and if you want to support them, they have a fundraiser open on Seeders. You can go to seeders.com , type in Accessercise and register your interest. So what are you waiting for? Greenlight. [25:23 - 28:23] Ali Jawad This is me. Yes, I was a very cute kid and I was born as a double leg amputee, growing up I was an obsessed gym user, which allowed me to achieve international success and compete at four Paralympic Games winning silver in 2016. However, I always wondered why as a disabled person, There is no fitness tool for me to exercise on my own terms. I had to rely on people to guide me Fast forward 17 years and this is evident, with over 70,000 health and fitness apps globally available. None service the disabled market with 81% of disabled people in the UK alone wanting to be more active. But continue to have limited resources. This is why at Accessercise we built a purpose made fitness app allowing disabled people to exercise on their own terms without relying on other people. Our solution is an integrated fitness app, which has three key features a unique exercise library with bespoke exercises tailored to the user's impairment, a social hub where users get to like love, share and comment and support each other, and an explore section that allows users to rate the accessibility of sporting facilities in the local area. This would have been an incredible tool for me growing up as a disabled person. Our business model is a standard freemium premium with two major revenue streams and a third coming in future versions with e-commerce. Our go to market strategy covers three main avenues. Firstly, directly to consumers. Secondly, through partnerships with organizations within the fitness and disability industry. And finally working with governments as part of their disability support packages at government wide level. The team behind the vision are all high performing people in the areas of sport, disability, law and business. You have myself, a four time Paralympian with a 17 year sporting career. Sam, a world champion sailor who is heavily involved in projects for the London 2012 Olympics. Yulia, a top lawyer, and Shareen, a former managing director of Barclays Bank in just over a year since launch. We've already had incredible traction within the industry, with thousands of downloads, an MVP that's live in the UK market. We've been featured live on CNN Global, gained User Economics, which have been proven to be scalable to the masses and even won the Inclusion Startup of the Year award. We're currently in a funding round seeking £1 million to give us 18 months. Runway to allow us to add more impairments in the app and have 140,000 active users for expansion to America. So if you have a disability, please download the app and give us as much feedback as possible. And if you're an investor, please check out our equity crowdfunding page. So what are you waiting for? Come on the journey with us and help us change access to exercise forever. [28:40 - ] Pete Horsley I'd like to introduce Jackie Coates, head of the Telstra Foundation, who will be awarding this year's Telstra People's Choice Award, a $5,000 cash prize to one of the startups as chosen by staff at Telstra. [28:53 -29:29 ] Jackie Coates Hi everyone. It's great to be part of Remarkable demo day again this year. We like to celebrate it with the Telstra People's Choice Award. Now we've run a poll with Telstra people and I am very pleased to announce that the 2022 Telstra People's Choice Award goes to Homeable. Congratulations, team. You will be taking home a $5,000 cash donation from the Telstra Foundation and congratulations to all the start-ups in Remarkable. We think you're all pretty amazing and you're doing so much great work to make the world more inclusive and accessible for people living with a disability, which is just fantastic. Thanks again and have a great demo day. See ya. [29:30 - 29:45] Pete Horsley Thank you, Jackie. A well-deserved award. I'd like to welcome back our coaches who will be introducing our Final Four founders who are all creating incredible impact. [29:47 - 30:38] Sam Lazarus Hi, my name is Sam Lazarus and I'm delighted to introduce you to the team at Biomotum, a wearable robotics startup that, when successful, will change the health outcomes of almost every single human on the planet. And I hope you recognize that I'm not being brash, but rather appreciate the sheer scope of the problem. Bio modem will solve how to improve people's mobility in order to elicit better physical health. When we talk about how technology designed for inclusion can change the world, we literally see a world where Biomotum has won. And I hope you keep that in mind when learning from Ray about the amazing solution that they've built and how they're planning on getting us all to a place where we can, through movement, have better control of our health. [31:00 - 34:07] Ray Browning Hi, I'm Ray Browning, co-founder and CEO of Biomotum. I'd like to start by saying this is the most exciting and impactful work of my career. At Biomotum, We build wearable robots that help people to walk. Why? Because one in seven individuals have difficulty walking, meaning everyday tasks are hard, if not impossible, and the resulting physical inactivity contributes to poor health and limited productivity. Improving walking involves a combination of physical therapy and assistive devices, but the access to physical therapy is limited. Gait training is not efficient, and assistive devices don't adapt to the changing needs of the individual. Our first product is the spark, an easy to use robotic ankle assistant that can deliver efficient adaptive therapy on demand. Research participants have taken over 1 million steps, and the results are impressive. Children with cerebral palsy improved their walking speeds. 3 to 6 times faster than current approaches. The spark makes it possible to improve mobility anytime, anywhere. Our control algorithms allow the device to be used on stairs, up and down hills and over rough terrain. No other product can do this. I'd like to show you a video of one of our research participants. Pay particular attention to their walking speed and the way they walk.This is an 11 year old child with cerebral palsy. Prior to using the spark, their walking speed was about one mile per hour, which is not fast enough to cross a crosswalk. After only four weeks of using the spark three times a week, their walking speed nearly doubled. The impact of this improvement is best captured by what parents say. This is life changing. We are capitalizing on the electrification of transport and advances in robotics to create wearable personal mobility solutions that are effective and affordable. And given the number of people who have trouble walking. The market opportunity is massive. We'll sell our product to three customer groups researchers conducting groundbreaking studies on new ways to use this type of technology. Physical therapists, the workhorses of medicine who will use it to deliver effective therapy. And patients delivering the ability to do therapy at home while assisting with daily life. We've assembled an amazing team. Zach is a global leader in Rehabilitation Robotics. Phil is a PT and veteran of the exoskeleton industry, and Steve is a wearable device design guru. I would welcome the opportunity to discuss our seed round and connections to health care partners. Please reach out. I'd like to leave you with this. All of us will experience difficulty walking. We can either be inactive and in poor health or we can thrive. A Biomotum. We will help you thrive. Thank you. [34:27 - 35:26] Poppy Rouse Hi, I'm Poppy Rouse, And this is my second time as a startup coach for Remarkable. This year, I'm lucky enough to be coaching the Homeable team who are empowering people with disability to live more independently at home. Using Smart Home technology, Homeable was born out of Remarkables designathon just over six months ago, and as a new team, they've already figured out how to work together in perfect harmony with incredible momentum from onboarding partners to completing that first pilot. I'm truly blown away by how much they've achieved and all while managing busy day jobs, this team lives and breathes customer centric design. They're constantly gathering feedback from users and iterating the services and business model as they go. They're open minded, laser focused and unwavering in their pursuit of excellence. Unsurprisingly, their customers love them, as I'm sure you will, too. So it's my great pleasure to introduce Homeable. [35:46 - 38:53] Liam Highmore Hi, my name is Liam and I'm a co-founder at Homeable. What does home mean to you? If you're anything like me, you love being at home. It's a place that makes us feel safe and in control. But above all else, it's a place we should all feel comfortable in, including our friend Jacob. Now, Jacob uses a wheelchair and lives by himself in his Sydney home. He finds it difficult performing daily tasks like turning on his lights and making it to the front door in time to accept his delivery. Now, Jacob is also unable to reach the cord for his blinds and as a result has been closed permanently, leaving him with no natural light. But did you know smart home technology could help overcome these challenges? For Jacob and the nine out of ten people living with disability who require some form of assistance with daily tasks, that's almost 4 million people in Australia alone. Now we've found that people are often unsure how smart technology could benefit them, and the industry's one size fits all approach often results in technology that just isn't suitable for their needs. We are continuously hearing from occupational therapists that the smart home landscape is incredibly difficult to navigate and no company has managed to make the entire process of creating a smart home truly accessible. That is, until now. Homeable offers an end-to end smart home service that works like this. Jacob can be referred to us by his O.T. and based on his unique independence goals, we are able to design a solution with Jacob that allows him to open his blinds and unlock the front door using just his voice. And now, when Jacob hears the doorbell, he can use his phone to see and talk to whoever is there. Now we offer Jacob installation and educate him on how to get the most out of the technology. But the relationship doesn't end there. We offer ongoing support through an annual subscription that is funded by Jacob's NDIS plan. Now in the last two months, Homeable secured six wholesale agreements with technology suppliers and smashed our target with over 100 people formally registering interest in our service, including 25 OTs, wanting to know if their clients were interested in us. We also launched our pilot program and are working with Guide Dogs Australia to design and install solutions for their community. We are going to market with our service in September and launching our installer program in 2023, allowing us to truly scale. We have a passionate and diverse team driven by people with lived experience and have backgrounds covering product management, allied health user experience and technology sales. We are determined to become the smart home experts for disability and aged care by the end of 2023. But we can't do this alone. Firstly, we are looking to raise funds mid-next year and would love to start conversations with passionate investors who share our vision. And secondly, if you know any occupational therapists or end users, who would benefit from learning about Homeable, please scan the QR code so that together we can make everyone feel safe, independent and comfortable where it matters most. The home. [39:15 - 40:12] Alan Jones Hi, I'm Alan Jones, a tech investor, founder, coach and CEO of Aussie Tech Startup Community Fish Burners. As I've been an angel investor in tech for about 15 years, a very long time, but the technology we're going to hear about next goes way back even further than that. It's 1968. For years I've been hearing and dismissing talk of a real viable commercial application having been found in this area. Virtual Reality or VR. But over the course of the past three months, as I've come to get to know our next startup RecoveryVR, I think I've begun to see what may very well be a very important commercial application for VR. And along the way I've also come to believe in the future of RecoveryVR’s founder and CEO Christian Doran. His background as a producer in film and television means is a skilled communicator, negotiator and team manager. He's come a long way during the remarkable program and recovery VR is making great progress on the sales front. Here to tell you more, is RecoveryVR’s founder and CEO Christian Doran. [40:38 - 43:28] Christian Doran Have you ever had a physio injury? You know how rehab exercise is boring and you really do it. What about if you had a stroke or chronic pain or an injury at work? You had to do 3 hours per day, potentially four years to get back the life that you have right now. 65% of people give up on their rehab and often get worse, or develop other conditions because of it. And I understand why they give up. It's not just the monotony. There's travel time, out-of -pocket expense, physical pain, loss of income, anxiety and depression. Hi my name Christian Doran and at RecoveryVR we help you never give up. RecoveryVR uses virtual reality to deliver gamified rehabilitation that is portable, low cost and always available. But most importantly, it's fun and rewarding and motivates more reps and time in training that are the key metrics for effective rehabilitation. We've built over 80 therapy apps so far, but from listening to our clients, we've unlocked something much bigger. Our remote patient management system allows a clinician to prescribe and track a patient's exercise from anywhere in the world, plus deliver telehealth sessions, do measured assessments and monitor the improvement or decline of the patient. Our clients love it, but it has also opened up much larger market opportunities than just motivating rehab. Since launching in early 2022, we've sold multi-year licenses in some of Australia's leading rehab facilities, international universities, clinics and patients homes reaching a revenue of over $100,000. We've recently partnered with a provider who is developing a VR telehealth business to service the mining and manufacturing industries using our software. We are now in talks with a metaverse company in the US to roll out RecoveryVR with insurers in that territory. VR therapy has been shown to deliver up to 20% improvement in motor function compared with conventional therapy. But I think that's just the beginning. We're covering VR and working with prominent universities and clinicians to Increase that rate. While our team is full of film producers and game developers that make that therapy addictive and not feel like therapy at all. The Future of RecoveryVR is not only based on physical rehab. Version two of the product will be a VR health platform for a range of conditions, increasing our market potential, but also delivering on our mission of providing low cost access to health care for everyone. We're currently raising our seed round of 1.2 million and we already have 250,000. Subscribed will be using the investment to scale marketing, sales and research while also starting a telehealth delivery service of our own. If you are interested in investing or know anyone who might be, I'd love to have a chat. Let's help people never give up. Thanks. [43:51 - 44:44] Laura Andersen I'm Laura Andersen, and I've been supporting Participant as they democratize access to assistive products around the globe. The problem they're trying to solve is complex, and yet the products they've created are beautiful and they meet the moment and the need of the market they're seeking to serve. What I'm most excited about most though, is the team. This team brings the combined expertise and experience required to deliver on the critical mission that they've set out. [44:44 - 47:57] Keoke King So at Participant, we're democratizing quality assistive products, starting with an all-terrain wheelchair for children. Meet Karim from Guaymas, Mexico. Until recently, the best mobility that Karim's family could access was a common baby stroller. It was causing problems in his arms and his posture. Now Karim is user number one for Cub, our award winning tilt and fold all terrain wheelchair. It snuggles into a small car. It loves unpaved roads and it leads the industry in Expandability. So as Karim grows, Cub grows with him. Aline, Karim's mom, reports he's more present in their family's daily life. At school, he can be more together with his classmates. He joins them at the table. And because he can sit up longer, he's more integrated into family meals and daily activities. She says everything has changed a lot. Karim represents the 40 million people in middle income countries who are stuck at home just because they need a wheelchair and don't have one. The World Bank projects that this massive group will double over the next 20 years, and rigorous research shows that $1 invested returns nine to society. Without mobility, there is little access to education, work and friendships. The rwa power of this need makes me ask why are they left behind? The industry offers few mid-price options. Manufacturers opt for cheap, low quality products, or they make sophisticated high margin products for markets with deep insurance funding for the 40 million people in the middle, no products that fit their needs or wallets. Hi, I'm Keoke. CEO of Participant. In my last job, I founded a global wheelchair distributor company and I saw this product gap. To learn more, I called my friend Dave, an occupational therapist and wheelchair user who has trained providers in 20 countries. And I talked with Ryota, who's the CEO of a wheelchair company in California. He has hundreds of designs and a half million people use his chairs today. Our combined skills and networks were fit for the challenge. And we saw a wave building. New government buyers and expanding NGO procurement. So we set out as co-founders. Fast forward to today. Our global team is eight people, four who use wheelchairs and together we have 115 years of industry experience and we speak ten languages. We offer four wheelchair models and a cushion. Our products are good on rough terrain, transportable, durable and clinically sound.We price attractively and sustainably with a gross margin to fuel growth. Our production capacity is 100,000 units per year and we intend to serve a million users by 2030. That wave that I mentioned is here just as our products are shipping, we may have that rarest of things, timing. Large NGOs are jumping in from the sidelines and several established buyers are switching. We have strong forecasts in all five of our products with reputable customers and distributors on both the global and national levels. We're driven by these market signals and the incredible impacts. If you share our vision and values, we're preparing a Round and I would love to meet you. Help us help Kerim and his 40 million friends who deserve mobility, inclusion and participation. [48:12 - 49:21] Pete Horsley What a spectacular group of startups we had. I'm sure you'll agree they did an incredible job and are having a massive impact on our world. And this is not just about passively watching. We can all support and amplify the work of these entrepreneurs. So here's a reminder of the QR codes to reach out directly to the founders. You've heard from. Before we wrap things up, a number of you watching may have your own start up idea brewing. If you're ready to take the next step in solving a problem in the disability and aging space, we'd love to support your journey. More information on this will be shared with you tomorrow. Make sure you check your inbox. Finally, on behalf of Remarkable, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, I'd like to thank our incredible partners, icare, Telstra, Microsoft, VivCourt, Smart Job and TPG Foundation for making this event possible.

2022 Remarkable Accelerator Demo Day | Screening 2

July 21, 2022

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2024 Launcher Customer Showcase | Screening 2

March 28, 2024

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Transcript [00:00] Voice Over Many of the greatest technological advances enabling the world right now were originally created by and for people with disabilities. Remarkable exists to amplify those innovators to help transform their ideas into revolutionary tools whose benefits are felt universally. Because technology cannot only drive inclusion and equity for people with disabilities, it can do it for everyone. Remarkable Disability Tech. Amplifying every human’s potential. [01:03] Emma Earley from Remarkable Hello everyone, I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we are gathered today. And for me that’s the Gadigal and Bidjigal peoples. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and contributions. We believe We Are Better Together. Welcome everyone to the Customer Showcase 2024. Thank you so, so much for joining us. My name is Emma Early and I’m the Head of Acceleration programs at Remarkable. I’m a mid 30s half Filipino woman with long brown hair, proudly wearing my black t-shirt with a white Remarkable logo and some dangly gold earrings to celebrate the occasion today. This event has live closed captions that can be accessed in your Zoom toolbar and all pitch videos will display captions too. We have two ASL interpreters joining us today, Ashley and Lizzy and the recording will be available with a full transcript. So for this second ever Launcher cohort we had 38 teams participate and you’ll have the privilege to hear 90 second pitches from 32 of them and this is a world map showing seven operating countries of our teams: Australia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Switzerland and the US. Feel free to share where you’re dialling in from in the chat if you’d like and we’re proud to also share that 13 people in this cohort identify as living with disability and 17 people identify as a woman or non-binary. We are committed to continual progress to ensure a more diverse, inclusive and accessible program and wider ecosystem. So for those unacquainted, Launcher supports ideas to early stage startups making a difference in the lives of people with disability. And in just 8 weeks time our teams focused on validation of their problem space, solution or product depending on the stage of their journey. They had access to weekly master classes, one-on-one coaching sessions, a community of early stage founders and they received advice from experienced founders just a few steps ahead of them and had access to perks from our partners. And if you’d like to get started with your own Disability Tech idea and receive all of this support you can register your interest for Launcher 2025 at remarkable.org/launcher. Now we’ve listened to the disability community and identified 7 Horizons of Possibilities so far that currently need more attention and innovation. And today you’ll hear engaging 90 second pitches grouped by Horizon that start to address some of these challenges. For a lot of these teams this is their first time pitching so please bear that in mind and as we go add your support and encouragement to the chat. Alright let’s get started. There’ll be 3 sections of pitches and in this first section I’m so proud to welcome 8 teams focused on Early Intervention and Adult Disability Support followed by 7 teams building Innovations in Self-directed and Affordable Mobility. [04:31] Dr Michelle Wong from Feelings Foundation Did you know how more and more people are being diagnosed as autistic? Globally it’s 1 in 59. What’s the leading cause of death for people with autism? Suicide. My patients call me Dr Michelle. I’m a clinical psychologist in Australia’s largest paediatric hospital and the very first to specialise in mental health and disability. Why are so many children suffering when research tells us mental health problems are preventable? There is a bottleneck in accessing services and mental health programs are not accessible to all children. We’ve had a Royal Commission tell us that people with disability need specialised mental health programs. We need to do something now. In my research I developed accessible mental health programs for people that are autistic, non-autistic who might have complex learning communication and motor support needs. Over 2,000 Australian children are using my program and research has demonstrated its effectiveness in improving mental health in over 60 Australian schools. What do I plan for my startup? I plan to digitise and scale mental health programs to help children around the world and today I’m looking for partners in international business development, to help me establish a sustainable business model. [06:06] Casey Pfluger from Cortex Technologies Hi my name’s Casey and I’m the founder of Cortex Technologies. Have you ever had the experience of walking into a room and wondering why it was that you walked into that room and what it was that you’re doing? Well imagine having that experience all the time. Now when people have a neurocognitive issue, such as ADHD or a brain injury, they can experience those kind of symptoms all the time and that’s what drives Cortex. We’re here to provide neurofeedback therapy to help people with those kind of experiences. Now we’ve built hardware and software that can provide neurofeedback. Neurofeedback involves a headset that develop, that detects improvements in brain activity. The player then learns to consciously control their brain activity and is rewarded for ongoing improvements in their brain activity within the game. This triggers long-term improvements of up to up to 12 months. Now we’ve already made significant progress in our goals and we’re now developing our headset frame and software and hardware and seeking funding from manufacturing, optimization and compliance. We’d love to hear from you and thank you very much. [07:47] Tansel Ersavas from RoPets: Companions For Life RoPet the ultimate furry companion. World’s population aging rapidly. People over the age of 65 is reaching over 1 billion soon, including our grandparents and parents. Many ageing people have chronic conditions, they are lonely and they need care. We could offer a solution to help loneliness and track wellness, a cute and cuddly companion like a pet, a RoPet. An amazingly natural looking interface to a highly sophisticated technological platform, but who can develop such a companion? If you bring an AI expert, a robotics guru, a domain expert and a cyber security and marketing expert this team can. RoPet has an advanced AI system based on dog-like behaviour, a cute and cuddly body with meaningful dialogue ability and sensors that can observe vitals. Meet Frankie the 4th, the ultimate companion already in the prototype stage. RoPet’s competitors are either non-cuddly and looking like a pet terminator or small toys with very little capabilities. RoPet’s B2B strategy targets aged care centres and home care providers. Later we will establish B2C channels. RoPet’s MVP with mobile app sensor technology and licensable AI technology will be ready by August 2024. Now our priority is to partner with the aged care providers. You can support our mission to help ageing population. Connect us with the aged care networks and help the elderly stay connected through RoPets. [09:20] Matthew Falcomata from Embodify Hi I’m Matthew, founder of Embodify. I’m a mid-20s Caucasian male with a black top knot. Globally 80 million people are autistic, with up to 80% experiencing mental health challenges like anxiety and depression. For many communication and self-expression become hurdles especially when the world can fail to understand. My experiences supporting autistic individuals have taught me that each day presents unique challenges and existing solutions often lack accessibility and personalisation. That’s why I created Embodify. An AI powered application offering a unique journey towards self-expression and empowerment. To illustrate Sam a 20-year-old autistic adult faces daily workplace anxiety. Using Embodify Sam identifies their emotions, creates characters representing their current and aspirational cells and integrates them into a story. Helping reframe experiences to visualise a positive outlook. To empower more individuals like Sam we are seeking insights from autistic individuals, parents, caregivers or anyone with a connection to autism. We recognize these challenges extend beyond the autistic community and if this resonates with you or someone you know we welcome your input. Sam is only one of 64 million. Imagine what Embodify could do for the rest? [10:56] Alexander Geht from Testa Seat Hello everyone, my name is Alex, I’m the founder and CEO of Testa Seat. About 12 million children with disabilities struggle to sit independently and need a new special seat every 3 years. 90% can’t afford it. Most of the product of the market are very expensive and providing poor support, affecting the children’s ability to communicate, eat and even breathe, and in the long term can lead to development delays and spinal deformation. Testa Seat are the most affordable and multifunctional product on the market. Thanks to 3D printing and our unique customisation platform we can make any size, disrupting this market. We made $90,000 in revenues, delivered 200 products to families and leading institutions. We received investments, grants and we have great partners as Alphalab Health, and Remarkable helping us reaching more customers. Our team is dedicated to make a difference in this market. Our biggest need is introductions to children’s hospitals and charities, and we are looking for SAFE note investment to expedite the roadmap. Thank you and please join our mission to make sure that every child can sit independently. Thank you. [12:29] Rachel Wang from Bliss Flow Bliss Flow will change the lives of half a billion people worldwide. My name is Rachel, and I will tell you how. 1 in 4 Australian adults have urinary incontinence, and for 17% of them who have moderate to severe urinary incontinence, there’s no cure or effective solutions. After speaking to 82 patients, caregivers, and healthcare professionals, we found that the current solution can cause complications, such as dermatitis and urinary tract infections. This could put more weight on the patient and the caregivers. That’s why we are developing a noninvasive smart urine transport system. It has two components, a disposable wearable and a urine transporter. The user simply puts on the wearable just like regular underwear. Then, when there’s urine leakage, it will trigger the transporter to remove the urine from the wearable into a secure and portable container. Bliss Flow provides greater comfort and lower risk of developing complications and is much easier to use than catheters. We will launch in Australia first, targeting adults in the community, then serve care facilities and hospitals. Our diverse expertise in engineering, medical science, marketing, and business makes us well-suited to take this idea to the market. Please introduce us to any experts in urology, geriatrics, or textile design. We are BlissFlow. We empower a healthy, fulfilling, and independent life. Thank you. [14:12] Ali Goktogan from [URATech] The KOBE Robot Acute Flaccid Myelitis, or AFM, is a neurological disease primarily affecting children. It often leads to muscle weakness, paralysis, and respiratory complications. In some cases, children may require mechanical ventilation connected through tracheostomy. Carrying a ventilator manually can restrict both the caregivers and the child’s mobility, potentially limiting their participation in activities and freedom of movement. Our mission is to liberate children from the burden of carrying a ventilator, providing enhanced mobility and independence. Introducing the KOBE robot: Keeps One Breathing Everywhere. The KOBE robot is designed to follow its users at a fixed distance while carrying the mechanical ventilator, freeing them to move around without needing to manually hold it. Featuring a custom-made tether sensor, the KOBE robot tracks the user’s position and establishes a tangible link to foster intimacy and security. Onboard obstacle sensors enable the KOBE robot to navigate around obstacles both indoors and outdoors. The KOBE robot is equipped to traverse various surfaces, ensuring playtime anywhere. Let’s collaborate to ensure every child can breathe freely everywhere. Contact us today to learn more and get involved. [15:26] Mackenzie Boundy from The Somal Sponge Hello everyone, I’m Mackenzie, a stomal therapy nurse and the founder of The Stomal Sponge. Millions worldwide live with the daily stress of having an ostomy, facing the constant threat of disruptive bag leaks. Individuals are robbed of social interactions and their self-esteem, with the added stress of associated health risks. These leaks often lead to individuals exceeding their monthly allowance of essential consumables. How would you feel if you ran out of your essential hygiene products? The Stomal Sponge offers a lifeline—a biodegradable sponge placed externally in the stoma bag to absorb output. The Stomal Sponge addresses key concerns voiced by those with ostomies by minimising leakage while also neutralising odours, aiming to restore the confidence and freedom stolen by their condition. The multi-billion dollar global ostomy care industry underscores a ripe opportunity for innovation. The Stomal Sponge isn’t just a market disruptor; it’s a revolutionary solution aimed to enhance the dignity and quality of life for those living with an ostomy. We are wanting to take the next step towards transforming ostomy care and are seeking expertise in medical device marketing and co-founder collaboration. Together, let’s simplify ostomy management, one sponge at a time. [16:53] Tom Cronin from AidMotion Have you ever seen someone drag the back wheels of a four-wheel walker to move it sideways or struggle to turn it, or just abandon their walker altogether? The current walkers clearly do not fully address user needs. So at AidMotion, we are making a more mobile walker that moves like a shopping trolley and has innovative 3D printed brakes. I’m Tom, the founder of AidMotion. Between Wayne and I, our diverse fields of knowledge in physiotherapy, business, and engineering have allowed us to uniquely understand and fix this problem. 100% of the 50 physiotherapists surveyed have supported the new walker design. We have confirmed our new design meets ISO standards for rollators, completed initial user testing, and are designing our next prototype. Do you or someone you know want a better walker? Do you manage facilities or other groups that would like better walkers? Please contact us on our website, we would love to work with you. [18:06] David Ingerson from Tangible Workshop Like many other families with a child in a wheelchair, a trip to the beach was not for a family activity. I would stay in the park at the top while my wife would take our son down to play in the sand and in the water. Not only do wheelchairs not go on sand as they need special wheels, but some beach chairs can be unsafe, frequently tipping on a slope. No beach chair allowed for the positional supports that many wheelchair users need. Of the 4,000 people with cerebral palsy, 1,000 use a wheelchair with postural supports to help them sit upright and even allow for better breathing. We designed the GetAbout for our family, then started getting asked by others if they could have one. We found that three sizes suit almost anyone, from a young child to an older adult, and it needs very little adjustment. Laterals and other postural supports can be configured easily, making a trip to the beach possible. We even made some floats to turn the GetAbout buggy into a watercraft, and we are now looking at effective marketing to potential clients and for overseas potential partners. [19:23] Aleksandr Malashchenko from ReviMo Hi, I’m Alex, a founder of ReviMo. After my dear grandfather became paralysed after a stroke, many times I saw embarrassment on his face when he asked me to take him to the toilet. I quit my role as a deputy director of an R&D Institute to create the first mobility device that allows people like my grandfather to get back their dignity. In the US, there are 5.2 million people who cannot transfer themselves from a bed, and caregivers are hurting their backs trying to lift people from their beds, with about 70% of caregivers experiencing lower back pain. I believe that many of you have encountered this problem yourself or with your family or friends, no matter where in the world you are. And here, ReviMo comes in. ReviMo is the first mobile transfer device that can be easily used by people, like my grandfather, independently. It has a remote control and an innovative seat that allows a user to easily sit on the device without assistance. It’s very easy, it takes one minute, and then they are free to drive to the toilet or kitchen. We are currently developing a new prototype and would greatly appreciate feedback from people who have faced this problem. Join the waitlist on our website to receive the latest updates on our product developments. Thank you. [20:58] Sam Michalka from NaviShare Human Augmentation Lab Hello everyone, my name is Sam Michalka. I have brown hair and I’m wearing a science-themed scarf. I’m here to introduce a project called NaviShare from the Human Augmentation Lab. We’re collaborating with people who are blind to build better tools for navigating unfamiliar environments. Navigation challenges can be exhausting and even discourage participation in social and professional opportunities. Our solution is two intertwined accessible products to help empower the blind community. The first is an indoor and outdoor navigation app that provides precise localisation and crowdsourced maps. The second is a bag that enables the wearer to use their phone’s camera and control voiceover or another screen reader without needing to devote a hand to holding the phone. We’ve validated these ideas by working with more than a hundred people who are blind. Three ways that you can help are, sign up on our website linked below to get involved, provide introductions to businesses or governments willing to invest in making spaces more accessible, and donate to our research program to support university students working in disability tech. Together, we can make accessible navigation a reality. [22:16] Omar Faruk from Acme AI Hello everyone, I’m Omar Faruk from Acme AI. I’m from Bangladesh, a man in his mid-20s wearing a t-shirt. I’ll be presenting Dris T, a navigation body kit powered by computer vision for people with low and complete blindness. The World Health Organization reports 2.2 billion vision impairments globally, with only 3% having access to assisted technology in low-income countries due to high cost, unavailability, and incompleteness of existing products. Our solution offers navigation and guidance through camera, left-right haptic feedback via wireless vibration via wristbands, and auditory feedback via speaker. Currently, our engineering team has successfully developed and tested the firmware. We also partnered with a global NGO called the Center of Rehabilitation of the Paralysed. We are supported by Remarkable and the NVIDIA Inception program. Our next milestones will be to launch our SAAS-based app that can be used with mobile phones for more scalability, and it will enable us to empower 10,000 visually impaired persons as a midterm objective. So, be part of our journey by connecting us with new partners, helping us secure $50,000 USD, or maybe helping us to apply successfully to the Remarkable Accelerator. You can contact us via email, WhatsApp, or just scan the QR code. Thank you for your attention, we will be waiting for your message. [23:37] Monzurul Alam from RehabExo Hi, we are RehabExo, and we would like to introduce you to our Rehab ExoSuit, a soft exoskeleton for bringing bigger smiles on people’s faces. According to the World Health Organization, over 75 million people are dependent on their wheelchairs because of disabilities resulting from stroke, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, or other medical conditions. Around 80% of people with disabilities are of working age, yet only 50% of them can afford an assisted device. Additionally, 49% of children with disabilities are more likely to never attend school, and around 51% report feeling unhappy. Hence, developing an assistive device to help them regain functional independence and participate in society is essential. Exoskeleton robots have been developed and tested in recent years, however, these exoskeletons are bulky, heavy, expensive, and cumbersome to use. Furthermore, most of them are not designed for children. With the vision of providing an affordable solution for all age groups to support walking and standing, by combining fabric and soft robotics technology, we have designed a lightweight and comfortable exosuit. Currently, we are looking for health professionals to help us test and validate our design for people with paralysis. For more information, please visit our website at rehabexo.com. Thanks. [25:10] Justin Fong from Rehapp Hi, I’m Justin, and my dad just turned 70. It turns out he doesn’t really want to know he’s getting older, and honestly, neither do I. But there’s a reasonable chance, now one in three, in fact, that he will fall this year, and if he does, it could be one of the 670 people in Australia hospitalised every day as a result of a fall, or unthinkably, one of the 15 that die. The good news is that many falls are preventable. Exercise programs, environmental modifications, changes to medication, or even footwear can help reduce falls by more than 40%. The problem is, it’s really hard for us to know when our risk of falls is increasing, especially as we get older, and so it’s really hard for us to know when to implement these potentially life-saving changes. At Rehapp, we’re solving this problem. We’ve developed a simple device that attaches to a walking stick that measures how we walk. When things start to get a little bit wobbly, we connect with clinicians so that they can help us stay on our feet. We’re currently validating our solution with studies at the University of Melbourne and have two clinics lined up to try the device, once it’s ready. We’ve also received $95,000 worth of funding to help commercialise our solution. We’d love to connect with clinicians working with those at risk of falls. Please reach out to us on social media and join us in our mission to keep our most treasured community members on their feet and protect them from the risk that they can’t see. [26:43] Pete Horsley from Remarkable What incredible pictures we’ve heard so far. Good morning, good evening, good afternoon everyone. My name is Pete Horsley, a 40-something-year-old male wearing a leather hat, a black T-shirt that does have a Remarkable logo on it, and a green jacket. I’m the founder of Remarkable, and it gives me great pleasure to extend my welcome to everyone who’s with us today. Firstly, I want to extend that especially to the founders who have worked so incredibly hard over the last eight weeks to get to this point of pitching to customers and other stakeholders. We can see your passion through your pitches so far, we’ve got lots more to come. But we also see how you are bringing your experience to really important problems, and we’re seeing the ways as well that you’ve been incredible supporters of each other. You all represent some of the best emerging disability tech in the world right now, and we also welcome their supporters, their family, their friends, and potential customers as well. We’re incredibly proud of what you’ve achieved. I also just want to say a massive thank you to Emma Earley, part of the Remarkable team who’s headed up this program. She started with us just 12 weeks ago, can you believe that? And she’s been an incredibly important addition to our team and she’s done such a great job, certainly with the support of Cynthia and George, Kirilly and Viv, Liza, and Kate as well. But you’ve all done an incredible job with this program. I do want to say a special welcome to our coaches as well, we could not run this program without you. We always say that it takes a village to raise a startup, and certainly, that’s the case in this program. These 38 images of people that you can see on your screen are the wonderful coaches that have shared their time, their energy, and expertise to support these startups, to hold them accountable but to also encourage them. It’s a really tough journey to start something from scratch. Each of them are incredibly busy people, and they dedicate their time and energy to help these founders. So, in whatever way is appropriate for you, let’s celebrate these coaches. You can either give them an emoji, give them a round of applause, or just send some positive thoughts their way. They are amazing people. Thanks to all our coaches. Also, Launcher is only possible with the support of our partners, and in particular, TPG Telecom Foundation. Here is Jonathan Kirkham, Head of the TPG Telecom Foundation, with a short message for you [29:41] Jonathan Kirkham from TPG Telecom Foundation Hello everybody, my name’s Jonathan, or you can call me Jonno. I’m the Head of the TPG Telecom Foundation. I’m wearing a black T-shirt, I’ve got a bit of a scraggly beard, and I’ve got a bit of a scratch on my forehead here, which you might not see. That’s from my four-year-old daughter who got a bit carried away playing ‘What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf’ with me only a couple of days ago. I can’t believe we are already here at the end of Launcher, these eight weeks have truly flown by. We are so proud here at TPG Telecom to be funding Launcher. Funding and investing in innovation and technology is absolutely core to our business. The cohort this year, all of you that are part of Launcher, is so diverse. Everything from off-road beach wheelchairs to making events and music events more accessible, through to makeup, through to gaming devices – the list goes on. It really is incredible what you’re all doing to solve some of the challenges that people are facing on your quest to make the world a more accessible place. Thank you to all of you, and I hope it’s been an amazing learning experience for you too. I know that Pete and Emma and the whole team at Remarkable truly put everything into this to make it a great experience for you. Team Remarkable, thank you guys so much. We are so proud here at TPG Telecom, in fact, that we will be funding Launcher again next year. So, I look forward to meeting the new cohort next year as well. Anyway, that’s enough from me. I hope you all have a great session today, tonight, and I’ll see you all next year. Thanks, team. [31:33] Pete Horsley from Remarkable Bye, thanks, Jonno. Certainly, we wanted to be able to support disability tech entrepreneurs from the beginning of their startup journey. We wanted to help them create the right building blocks and validate their ideas, and TPG Telecom Foundation jumped at the opportunity to do just that. They’re an organisation that wants to support impact, their foundation exists to create opportunities to improve health and well-being and education, particularly of Australian communities. They’re really passionate about building meaningful relationships and supporting a vibrant, connected community. So, with thanks to TPG Telecom, we’re excited that they’re going to be supporting this program again next year. We also want to acknowledge a brand-new partnership that we’ve got with Toyota as well. Toyota is going to be supporting early-stage startups with engineering support for hardware startups in particular, and you’ve seen the vast array of hardware startups that we’ve had in the Launcher pitches so far. Through Toyota and the partnership that we’ve got with them, we’ll have access to up to 2,000 engineering hours. Watch this space for some exciting developments with that partnership, but certainly, thanks to Toyota and especially thanks to TPG Telecom Foundation for all your support. Now, I’ll pass back to Emma. [33:01] Emma Earley from Remarkable Now, I have to give it another plug. If you’re feeling inspired or know someone who might be, please register your interest for Launcher 2025 at remarkable.org/launcher. Oh gosh, I don’t know about you watching at home, but I’m just feeling so proud, so privileged. Like a proud auntie, sister, friend, whatever that relationship is. And I hope you are feeling a similar way at home. Get comfy, top up your drink if you need to, and please welcome another 8 incredible founders working on Affordable Assistive Technologies and Effective Real-Time Communication. [33:42] Billie Stanley from My Ability Hub Meet Charlie; he is 13 years old and like most 13-year-olds, Charlie’s biggest concern is the next thing on his social calendar. However, Charlie has an intellectual disability, he is nonverbal and cannot read or write. As a teacher, I have seen how the use of visual activity schedulers can help and support individuals like Charlie. Unfortunately, these old-school schedules lack flexibility, the generic images provide no meaningful connection, and the biggest kicker for me, they are so time-consuming to create. I knew there had to be a better way, and that with my lived experience, I was the perfect person to create it. My Ability Hub is an on-the-go photo calendar application that uses photos from your own personal gallery to create events, set rewards, and reminders, promoting independence and task completion. We are moments away from development, and we are just so excited. We would love to connect to any families or allied health professionals that would like to be the first users of My Ability Hub. Now is your chance, sign up today, get in touch with us, and we know that My Ability Hub will be the perfect tool for your family because it is the perfect tool for ours. [35:15] Peter Hartley from Quick Styx Hi, I’m Peter from Quick Styx. Our mission is to revolutionise wound care using a NASA-designed healing gauze. We’ve pinpointed two priority target groups, children born with clubfoot and athletes dealing with minor injuries. Why are these two groups? Personal experience fuels my passion. My son’s clubfoot treatment used an 80-year-old procedure and is etched into my memory. It drives my commitment to constantly look for ways to make things better. And athletes, we all know that the worst part of exercise is injuries, soreness, and sprains, which prevent us from keeping fit and being our best. Over 300,000 Australians, for example, grapple with plantar fasciitis each and every year. We believe that this tiny piece of tech can have an enormous impact on the lives of so many Australians. The Remarkable Launcher program has opened our eyes. The masterclasses, experts, networks, and coaches have helped me realise we’re no longer relying solely on benevolent philanthropists to make a difference. In 2024, we all have the potential to forge new paths to success in disability technology. How can you help Quick Styx? We’re currently seeking experts for a clinical advisory board. If you know wound care specialists or key leaders in sports performance recovery, then we’d love to speak. You’ve probably heard the saying that time heals all wounds. Well, at Quick Styx, we believe in creating a world where healing happens in no time at all. Thank you. [36:48] Lorace Zhang from Vysm When was the last time you had eye drops running off your cheek, and how rigid was the plastic eye drop bottle? 900 million people around the world use eye drops daily, and if it’s difficult for you, eye drop administration is a bigger struggle for people living with dexterity challenges such as parkinson’s and arthritis. My name is Lorance, co-founder of Vysm. Vysm’s delivery device simplifies eye drop delivery and tracks medication usage. Our user app provides treatment feedback to both users and eye clinicians. Our device is eyedrop agnostic, semi-automated, and designed for users. Our ability to provide connected care in the eye drop space makes us unique. Vysm received $100,000 to date which enabled IP protection, usability studies, and ongoing product development. Our prototype has attracted interests from key leaders, social clinicians, and our industry partner who were keen to support Vysm’s distribution of the products through clinics, webshops, and pharmacies. As a team of clinicians, engineers, and healthcare economics experts, we are confident to make this happen. If you live with dexterity challenges, join our usability study to provide feedback. We also appreciate introductions to parkinson’s or arthritis supporting groups or organisations. You can reach out to myself via Lorace@vysum.com.au. Thank you. [38:21] Tori Marshall from Teamy Hi, I’m Tori, the founder of Teamy. This is me and my twin sister Georgia. After our dad’s heart attack, Georgia’s supports became more complicated with more workers and therapists involved. Like Georgia, around 15% of the world’s population live with a disability. Not everyone will need a team around them, but for those that do, supports often operate in isolation. Insights from almost 50 surveys show that 75% of people are spending up to 10 hours per week organising supports. It’s ineffective and time-consuming. Currently, communication, scheduling, note-taking, and day-to-day organisation are all happening across separate platforms. So, the idea for Teamy was born, a central hub where everything is in one place. Teamy will be a subscription-based, person-centred app, available on both web and mobile platforms. It’s designed to empower individuals to be the leaders of their own support team. Teamy’s innovative scheduler helps to streamline organising supports. Pick your support time, team members enter their availability, and the work is done for you. Other features include voice-to-text, progress notes, a news feed, team profiles, goal tracking, document storage, and messaging tools. The ability to customise app privilege settings for every team member ensures that it works for you. Our research shows a strong demand for Teamy, but we need your help to bring it to life. We’re looking for software developers and collaborators to join us on this journey. Teamy a future where organising support is simple and easy. [39:58] Storm Menzies from By Storm Hi, I’m Storm, I’m the founder of By Storm Beauty. I’m a female in her 20s, i have short brown hair and red lipstick on. My story starts with a stroke at birth that’s left me navigating life basically one-handed. But it wasn’t until I injured my good hand that I actually understood just how inaccessible the beauty world was. Suddenly, I couldn’t open a tube of mascara, let alone hold it steady. Feeling completely frustrated and with mascara everywhere, the idea for By Storm was born. By Storm is redefining beauty and inclusion. We have designed a range of makeup accessories that attach to your favourite makeup items to make them easier to use for everyone. That includes if you have an upper limb disability, poor grip strength, tremor, or dexterity issues. Our products were co-designed with the disability community, which is why we understand that makeup is so much more than just looking pretty. It is about self-expression, identity, and independence. With a potential market of over 13 trillion dollars currently overlooked by the beauty industry, By Storm is smart business. We are also NDIS registered for assisted technology. So, we’re searching for someone passionate about accessible beauty to be the face of our social media. If you know someone or have a connection at Sephora or Mecca, please get in contact with us. You can also join the waitlist for our products by scanning the QR code. Thank you so much. [41:55] Gregory Mena from Seymour Accessibility Hi, I’m Greg from Seymour Accessibility. There are millions of deaf and hard of hearing people around the world, and they often face barriers to fully engage at live events. Simply put, they can’t understand what’s being said because there are no captions, making them feel left out and frustrated. Our solution, Seymour, delivers real-time computer-generated captions to mobile devices at live events. Seymour has two touchpoints, first our solution starts with an application developed for live sound technicians—better sound quality leads to better caption accuracy. Second, we have developed an easy-to-use, mobile responsive, customisable captioning app for end-users. With the support of Launcher, we are excited to announce that we have moved from our prototyping phase into private beta testing. We are currently working with one public school and one place of worship, and we are improving our product every week with the feedback we are getting. Our next priority is increasing the number and variety of venues that we are working with, so we are asking for your help in identifying new venues that would like to be early adopters. All beta testing venues will receive legacy pricing when we launch Seymour to the public. Please visit our website to apply. [43:30] Tessa Riley from Hey Jean Hi everyone, I’m Tessa, one of the co-founders at Hey Jean. Growing up in the ’90s, my older sister Stephanie was diagnosed with Edwards syndrome, which was a massive shock for my parents. She had a lot of help and support from support workers and allied health providers, but back then, care providers didn’t use any technology to track her progress or keep us informed. Fast forward 30 years, and it’s sadly still the same situation. Australian service providers spend more time on running their businesses than with their clients and participants. They have a lot of paperwork and reporting to do but no time to do it. The industry lacks affordable tech, so businesses either build their own clunky software or they use pen and paper methods to manage their staff and clients, which means that at the end of the day, there’s no real-time communication or updates. We’re building a care management tool that is purpose-built for the NDIS and aged care sector. Our technology will give small service providers all the tools they need to manage their client care, schedule their staff, and keep loved ones instantly informed. We’d love your support. If you’re a small NDIS provider, we’d love to speak with you and hear more about your business. You’re also welcome to join the waitlist on our website to find out when we launch to the public. Thank you. [45:59] Gary Mansted from iVocab Introducing iVocab, a groundbreaking augmentative and alternative communication mobile app that is revolutionising how individuals with communication impairments express themselves. Traditional AAC solutions fall short with lengthy setup procedures, outdated interfaces, and frustrating user experiences, compounded by user disengagement. Hi, I’m Gary, iVocab CEO. After seeing my own son struggle with the current market offerings. iVocab is about reinventing the AAC paradigm by providing a highly personalised, contemporary, and intuitive communication experience driven by AI. Imagine a world where AAC users project their own personalised voice, effortlessly crafted through iVocab’s AI-enabled predictive modelling technology. With every interaction, the AI learns, refining its suggestions and responses based on context and location and more. But it’s not just about innovation, it’s about impact. With over 100,000 users in Australia alone and millions worldwide, iVocab has the potential to transform lives and bridge communication gaps across diverse conditions, ranging from autism to cerebral palsy to motor neuron disease. Our next step is to participate in the Stoen and Chalk’s AI Sprint competition and further develop our MVP in preparation for taking it to market. To learn more, please visit our website at ivocab.com.au. [46:29] Pete Horsley from Remarkable Certainly, some more incredible pitches there. Launcher is part of a suite of global programs and initiatives that Remarkable runs. We’re a division of Cerebral Palsy Alliance, and for more than 75 years, we’ve been working with great minds from around the world to create impact and create a world of opportunity, particularly for people with cerebral palsy. But we knew to do that, we had to open up the world of technology. We’re relying more and more on technology today, and sadly, the benefits of technology aren’t distributed evenly to the human population. We wanted to start to shift the dial on that. We also acknowledge that throughout history, people with disabilities have been some of the greatest innovators we have seen. They have been problem-solving for a world that wasn’t created for them. So, we partner with the disability community and acknowledge that they have an absolutely key role in all of the work that shapes our futures. Since Remarkable began, we’ve now supported over 120 startups who have gone on to create lots of jobs, served over 186,000 customers so far, and attracted over $63 million in capital. This is a growing market, and we keep stressing that to investors that this is one to watch. We’re proud to say that we play just a small part in that. Launcher is just one of the programs we run, and we now have a pathway of support of programs and initiatives from idea all the way through to scale. Today, tonight, wherever you are around the world, you are the first to hear that we’re opening applications for our 2024 Accelerator program, which will have cohorts based out of Australia and also the US. Those applications will be opening next week, Tuesday the 2nd of April 2024. They are only open for a few short weeks, though, so applications close on the 29th of April. So, if you’re ready to accelerate your disability tech startup or know someone who is, please share our website with them, remarkable.org, and I will now hand back to Emma. [49:04] Emma Earley from Remarkable Thanks, Pete. So, this is the third and final section, sadly, of some seriously impressive elevator pitches. You’ll hear solutions for Smarter Homes and Communities, some ways to Enable Education and Employment, and then bringing us home are some tech solutions in the world of Recreation and Inclusive Play. [49:23] Jason Woelfi from Button Hi, my name is Jason Woelfi. I’m a white male with a beard, wearing glasses and a black baseball cap. I’m the founder of Button, and we are on a mission to make the future accessible. In today’s world, public transport remains a challenge for millions of people living with a disability. Simple tasks like boarding a bus or requesting a stop can be stressful, unsafe, and inequitable. At Button, we’re tackling this problem head-on. Our app Button allows users to hail a bus and request to stop using their mobile device. Button can then learn a user’s preferences and behaviours using machine learning and AI, resulting in automated journeys that are seamless and personalised. We’re currently collaborating with industry partners to test pilot our MVP, and we’re excited about the emerging possibilities. We’re on the lookout for connections, whether you just want to say hi, share your insights, or find out more. We would love to hear from you. Join us on our mission to make the future accessible. Thank you. [50:28] Şafak Akinci from Facial Gesture Recognition System Imagine you can’t speak or move your body and you need help at night when everyone is asleep. In such a situation, you will have to wait for 8 to 10 hours until morning. People who have motor neuron disorders can control their computers with facial movements during the day to express their needs. However, at night, their devices are turned off, and there is usually no one with them. By detecting with just a few predetermined facial gestures at night, their loved ones or caregivers are alerted instantly, reducing wait times from hours to seconds. Our system requires no calibration and adapts to changes in facial movements over time. Also, it can be integrated with other smart home devices. This innovative system functions seamlessly in daylight and in complete darkness at night, thus empowering those having such conditions to live more independently and safely both day and night. Your support is more than just an endorsement. By advocating for our mission, you are making a tangible difference in the lives of those facing profound challenges. Let’s unite to ensure that everyone can communicate. Thank you. [51:59] Bahar Ramazanova from Altogether Imagine a world where justice is a fundamental right for all, yet millions of persons with disabilities are left navigating a complex and inaccessible legal landscape. Laws and legal services are often difficult to understand and unaffordable. My name is Bahar, I have black long hair, I’m wearing a red dress, and I am the co-founder of Altogether. This is an AI-powered mobile application which aims to provide accessible disability law information, simplify reporting to responsible bodies, offers affordable legal assistance for persons with disabilities, and disability compliance services tailored for businesses and institutions. After engaging with hundreds of members of the disability community, our findings discovered a clear demand for our product. We are the winners of the Global Be Changemaker 2023 competition with funding. I invite you to join us as co-founders, partners, and investors to make the world a more equitable and accessible place for everyone. Please scan the QR code, visit the website, and contact me for more details. Thank you. [53:28] Rafael Anselmo from Vinculo.app Hello, I am from Vinculo.app, a Brazilian Tech of social impact. Did you know that 1,2% of the Brazilian population have some type of disability, and enrolled in public school? Have you ever thought about the challenges faced by teachers? Using technology as a foundation, we assist teachers in identifying the specific education needs of students with disabilities and develop a pedagogic strategy using AI. This provides a more effective and personalised learning experience. Our recently used case at Rock School in North Brazil led to the transformation of the education of over 75 students with various disabilities. During this period, we achieved school enrollment of 97.2% providing quality and available education for all. Come be part of this transformation. Thank you. [54:43] Christina Chang from Geshido Corporation Hi, I’m Christina Chang, CEO and co-founder of Geshido. Geshido is the AI Focus Assistant that saves entire teams from being busy for nothing. You may know that feeling of being busy Monday morning, you’ve got a nice list of priorities. 10 minutes in all you can see are Slack messages, emails, calendar invites, all those notifications that eat up your focus. While this is a frustrating experience for many tech workers, it especially burns out workers with neurodivergence, from ADHD, autism, anxiety to workplace stress, and these workers are composing a larger and larger portion of the workforce. Now, imagine having clear priorities with only relevant interruptions at every time. Geshido achieves this for the entire team with a secure Chrome extension. First, it aligns managers and their direct reports on shared priorities that stay up to date. Second, it cuts out noise or notifications across apps that do not relate to the priority being worked on right now. And unlike Slack, Microsoft Teams, or even Jira, it helps the worker focus 100% on doing real work, not mining for information in search of that work. We’ve already received positive feedback from multiple team leaders at our early customers at Aspiritech and Lyra Health. If you believe your team could benefit from Geshido, please email me at christina.chang@geshido.com for an introductory teamwork workshop and please join our waitlist by visiting geshido.com. Thanks so much. [56:24] Lee-Anne Reuber from Second Skin Society My name is Leanne, and I’m the founder and CEO of Second Skin Society. I’m a white woman with long brown hair worn down to my shoulders, black framed glasses, and a black top. So, you know how working out with partners, family, and friends creates more accountability and fun in your fitness routine? Well, what if your partner uses a wheelchair and you don’t? Are they supposed to adapt to the instructor rather than having the instructor speak to their needs? Our accessible fitness app provides multiple versions of each class and gives users the opportunity to follow up to two instructors simultaneously so people with and without disabilities can work out together. You know how you’re participating in an online fitness class and sometimes you got to crank your neck to see in order to understand what the instructor is asking you to do? Well, our app provides enhanced queuing so you don’t have to watch the instructor the entire class and so people who are blind or have low vision can also participate. You know how turning on captions provides a better user experience? What about your friend who’s deaf and relies on American Sign Language for communication? Our app provides classes taught with American Sign Language, and we have captions too. Our fitness app has been created with and by people with disabilities to provide an end-to-end accessible solution for those who are blind, have low vision, are deaf, hard of hearing, wheelchair users with and without lower body mobility, and their social circles. Our fitness experiences will leave you feeling empowered, valued, and included. Join our society today. [57:59] Anthony DeVergillo from Our Odyssey Hello, my name is Anthony DeVergillo, and I’m a white man sitting in a black wheelchair, using a non-invasive ventilator to breathe. Have you ever felt alone? When I was diagnosed with a muscle-weakening rare disease, I struggled with severe social isolation. I lost the ability to play video games with friends, I lost eating out with friends, and like so many of us, I lost connection with everyone during the pandemic. The pandemic may have ended, but my social barriers still remain. So, I partnered with Our Odyssey. This vision is to be a socially inclusive virtual platform that connects young adults living with a rare or chronic condition. We host virtual social meetups, develop software for accessibility, and raise awareness through our live stream network. Through Our Odyssey, I gained the ability to play video games again with the Overjoyed Accessible Controller. I gained the opportunity to socialise with people who understand what I’m going through at our social meetups. And most importantly, I gained a community that I can advocate for through gaming, music, and cooking live streams. If you have ever felt alone, I invite you to join the Our Odyssey community by sharing our social meetups, participating in our streams, and using our accessible controller in the #NoControllerChallenge. Thank you. [59:37] Emily Drennen from Erge Toys Hi, I’m Emily Drennen, founder of Erge Toys. I’m a 50-year-old plus-sized white woman with long red hair and chunky glasses. Erge Toys is a sexual wellness company that centres the needs of people with disabilities. Too often, we make do with products that aren’t meant for our bodies, or if we do find something that might work, it’s likely to be too expensive. We’re going to change that. Using ergonomic principles and input from disabled folks, Erge’s innovative designs will offer everyone the chance for radical embodied joy. Sex toys are wildly popular among American adults. Did you know that approximately 82% of American women own at least one sex toy? By 2028, the US sexual wellness market will surpass $10 billion, marking a substantial increase from $6.5 billion just two years ago. In the US, 13.3% of people identify as having a disability, while almost all of us will experience temporary or permanent disability at some point. Together, these point to a strong market for what Erge Toys is all about. We believe that everybody deserves sexual wellness. I’m excited to share that we’re prototyping our first product, a design I’ve wanted to create for over 20 years. Join our waitlist by visiting tinyurl.com/ergetoys or send me an email at ErgeToys@gmail.com. Thanks. [1:01:18] Jay-Dee Pitcaithly from Sound Clusive Hello I’m Jay-Dee, and I’m a female wearing a white button-up shirt. I’m the founder of Sound Clusive, and we want people living with disability to access and enjoy events just like anyone else. With over 10 years of experience in the events industry, I noticed just how many barriers people living with disability face when wanting to go to events. Sound Clusive is an online hub partnering with venues, promoters, and ticketing agents to provide accurate and consistent access and ticketing information, backed up by reviews from people with lived experience. With this, we hope to increase the confidence of the disability community and provide an opportunity to just have fun and create lasting memories with their families, friends, and carers. As we continue our development and trial phases, we would love to connect with people living with a disability as well as venues and event organisers looking to increase their accessibility at their events. If this sounds like you, please scan the QR code or visit soundclusive.com.au and join the Sound Clusive community. [01:02:33] Emma Earley from Remarkable Thank you so much for sticking with us as we ran a few minutes over time, but please join me in congratulating all of our teams and, in whatever way is available to you, well done everyone. And to our teams, thank you again for trusting us to work with you. To everyone else in the audience, thank you for being here to support our Launcher 2024 teams. Please reach out to them and connect them to your network to help launch them to their next stage of growth. Next week, we’ll be sharing a blog post with the recording, alongside handy links and each of their ‘asks’ for support, to make it so simple for you to connect with them. And that’s it for our Launcher Customer Showcase, but please don’t let it be the end of our time together. Are you working on an innovation that impacts people with disability, or do you know someone working on a disability tech solution? Depending on the stage of the journey, express your interest in Launcher 2025 or apply to our Accelerator program, which opens next Tuesday, the 2nd of April. Please share with anyone you know who may be interested. Head to remarkable.org. Thank you so much for joining us. Goodbye.

2024 Launcher Customer Showcase | Screening 1

March 27, 2024

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2024 Accelerator Ask Me Anything Session | Global Startups

April 12, 2024

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Transcript [00:00] Music starts [00:08] Voiceover Many of the greatest technological advances enabling the world right now were originally created by and for people with disabilities. Remarkable exists to amplify those innovators, to help transform their ideas into revolutionary tools whose benefits are felt universally. Because technology cannot only drive inclusion and equity for people with disabilities, it can do it for everyone. [00:56] Music Together we’re unstoppable. Together we’re unstoppable. [01:10] Voiceover Remarkable Disability Tech amplifying every human’s potential. [01:18] Emma Earley, Remarkable Hi everyone, thank you for joining us. I’d like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we are gathered today and for me that’s the Gadigal and Bidjigal peoples. I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and we acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and contributions, and we believe we are better together. Thank you so much for being here. It’s the Remarkable Accelerator Ask Me Anything for the Global cohort 2024, I’m so excited. I’m Emma Earley and I’m the Head of Acceleration programs here at Remarkable. I’m a mid-30s half Filipino woman with long brown hair and I’m proudly wearing a black shirt with a white Remarkable logo. And a note on accessibility for today, this event will have live closed captions that can be accessed in your Zoom toolbar. We also have two wonderful Auslan interpreters joining us and the recording will be available next week with a full transcript. So what we’ll go through today, a little bit about Remarkable for those of you unacquainted, a lot of detail on all of the benefits that you’ll get from joining our Accelerator program and then some detail on what startups we are looking for and how you can craft a successful application to stand out. And then we’ll throw to you for the opportunity to ask some questions. But to begin, oh actually I’ll make a note if you have questions based on what we’re saying as we go please pop them in the chat so we can try to answer them relevant to what we’re saying but there will also be the opportunity at the end for you to ask other questions. But first for those of you who haven’t met him yet I’d like you to meet Pete Horsley founder of Remarkable. [03:03] Pete Horsley, Remarkable (cough) That was terrible start, hi everyone my name is Pete Horsley. I’m today wearing a blue shirt, a blue jacket, a brown hat and some black rimmed glasses, I’m a white 40-some male. It’s really great to have you here and really we’re wanting to answer your questions that you might be able to put in your best forward as you apply for the Accelerator program in 2024. Remarkable started back in 2016 and it was really our mission was trying to accelerate technology, get technology, into the hands of people with disability. As we started to do that we figured that we needed to try and create the ecosystem that sits around that, so investors, other partners. And so really what we’re trying to do is to see technology that actually creates change, creates a greater inclusion, autonomy, independence, access and possibility for people with disability. Over that time we’ve worked now with over a 100 companies, we have seen them go on to create incredible impact in terms of the work that they’ve done. They’ve created over 550 jobs, served over 186,000 customers and attracted a bunch of capital, millions of dollars of capital. And what we’re trying to see happen is that, that this opens up pathways of support for startups and technologies that are at their very earliest stages. On the screen there’s a, I guess a sideways funnel, that you can see there that actually has a number of different stages. So right from ideation all the way through to scale. And so we have a number of programs and initiatives that we run as part of Remarkable, starting with kind of really trying to kind of bring home the idea that disability has always been a real driver of innovation and many of you are the next crop of innovators coming through. We have just finished our Launcher program, which is a pre-accelerator program, some of you who are on this call were participants in that this year and perhaps even a couple of years ago when we ran it last. Then we have our Accelerator program and Accelerator program really is around commercialisation and this kind of term that we call ‘go-to-market’ so how do you get your products out into the market and into the hands of people who need it most. One of our newer programs is Scaler, that is for Seed to Series A investment. It’s a little bit of terminology from the startup community but essentially for startups that are in market already selling their product and are looking to kind of scale their growth quite quickly. So we we now have a range of programs and supports that sit around that. So if there are any questions specifically on kind of Remarkable as a whole, this is part of, there is another cohort that we call the US cohort as well that will be operating at the same time, so those two cohorts operate in parallel as well. So if there are any questions certainly let me know and I’ll just open up the chat to make sure that I’m seeing that. Otherwise I’ll hand back to you Emma. [06:45] Emma Earley, Remarkable Thanks Pete okay so the fun stuff. What makes our Accelerator unique? I’d like to share some Accelerator Commitments and Operating Principles that Molly, who is my US counterpart, and I have worked on. Importantly the hint is in the name, we will accelerate you and we do also expect you to actively accelerate your startup. We will add value and respect your time. We only want to do things that are helping you achieve your startup’s objectives, not just sort of making you attend something for the sake of it. And on that note we will tailor our programming for your startup so that you’ll receive just in time content and just in time connections. So it’s not about a prescriptive program where week one you must do X and week two you must do Y. And community is also really important as well. So this is how we work as a Remarkable team and how we would like our portfolio companies to work as well and that is building in and with the community. And those communities include people with disabilities, your cohort, the both International cohorts, and within your startup team as well. And as far as our Operating Principles go as I’ve said we build our programming around your startups objectives and we evaluate our success in our ability to accelerate you in those particular areas. Then kind of universal and unique to Remarkable is that we want to develop your startup’s understanding of accessibility and inclusion and help you on that learning journey. And with that we really want to prioritise inclusive leadership and your team development, so that can include your team dynamics, and helping set you up for the next stage of growth as you do grow and need to build your team as well. So what do you gain access to? In short: Coaching and Mentoring; Community, Connections and Network Access; Bespoke Programming across 16 weeks followed by Demo Day and Investment, which is exciting but I’ll go into a bit more detail on each. So Coaching and Mentoring across the 16 weeks ,each team will have a dedicated one-on-one coach who will help set your objectives, help you stay accountable, unblock and troubleshoot any issues you have and connect you to what you need. Then as needed you, that can be supplemented with mentors who are subject matter experts in a particular strategic area that is relevant to you and you can tap into the hundreds of mentors in the Remarkable community. So that is really focused on just-in-time connections to what you need, when you need it. And this is an image of a few of our mentors on the slide. Community and Connections really valuable to help you as founders and startup operators through the program but also help your startup’s journey. So as Pete mentioned we have two international cohorts operating in tandem. I’m leading the Global cohort and that’s for Global startups based outside of the US. And Molly will be leading the US cohort and that’s solely for startups based in the US. You’ll also be able to tap into our Remarkable team, our great network of Coaches, Mentors and Alumni. You’ll be able to access, as relevant, Cerebral Palsy Alliance, our partners and industry contacts, disability community and the wider startup ecosystem as well. So we have a really extensive and engaged network and they are primed to support you on your next stage of growth. So how does our bespoke or tailored programming work? Once we have selected the teams, before the Accelerator kicks off we have one or two Deep Dives per team and that is to really understand your needs, surface any challenges or gaps that you might have, any roadblocks and opportunities for development. And from those Deep Dives we’ll design the programming tailored to your startup’s needs. Then the Accelerator itself runs for 16 weeks from the 17th of June until the 4th of October. So each week you’ll have one-on-one coaching, and then supplement it with mentoring as needed, not necessarily weekly unless that’s really something that you need. Then each week we’ll have two 75 minute sessions, probably on a Tuesday or and Thursday and those 75 minute sessions will be designed from a menu of programming which I’ll explain on the next slide. You’ll have access to Industry Events and other in-person events. And then after the 16 weeks we have a Finisher to sort of wrap up the program with your cohort and prepare for Demo Day, which is currently planned for the 15th and 16th of October in Sydney. Okay so our Menu of Programming. It’s just-in-time content, non-prescriptive. So over those 16 weeks on a Tuesday and Thursday, mid-morning Sydney time, most likely there’ll be a range of sessions that could look like, workshops, masterclasses on particular strategic areas that you they relevant for you, could be a Q&A with a founder, a peer-to-peer learning session or mastermind, could be a panel with investors, could be a Remarkable Roundtable with stakeholders in the disability community or even pitch practice sessions. So some weeks it’ll be the whole cohort working on the same strategic area and will align where possible, but other weeks it might be individual teams or smaller groups working on one of these things, and other weeks it will actually be the full international program of both cohorts attending one of these sessions. So you only need to attend what is relevant to meeting your startups objectives in line with our commitment to add value and accelerate you. But once we do work together in that Deep Dive to design your tailored programming, the expectation is that you are committed to attend all of those sessions. So the time commitment that that looks like is approximately 7 hours a week for Accelerator sessions, coaching, any supplementary mentoring, and deep work you need that week. But the weeks that we do have in-person events it will be a little bit higher than that. So just bear that in mind as you plan. We’ve got some really exciting, and hopefully really useful events and networking opportunities for you. So towards the start we have what we call Kickstart and that is an immersive in-person event with our cohort. Up to you if you’d like to stay with us in our Airbnb or whatever other accessible accommodation that we book. You can also stay in your own accommodation, if preferred. But that’s really for us to come together, set objectives, collaborate with your cohort, your coach and within your own startup team. So if possible your core team should be able to attend that and that’s planned to be in person in Sydney, 2nd to the 4th of July. Then halfway through we have a mid-program catch up with the cohort and you’ll also have the opportunity to exhibit at no cost to you in the Remarkable booth at the Sydney Disabilities Expo, so you can showcase your product to potential customers and make connections. So all startups are welcome to attend that but that’s not required attendance. Then once we’ve finished up the program, two weeks later, we have what we call Finisher and Demo Day. So we’ll come together, wrap up, get prepared for Demo Day and at Demo Day we plan to invite industry, investors, potential partners but we’ll work with you to tap into our network because our aim is to get the right people in front of your startup. We also will plan four sessions across the 16 weeks where it is the international cohort coming together. Okay a note on program accessibility. So we’ll ensure that our program meets your accessibility needs so we’ll work together prior to the start to ensure we’re best serving those accessibility requirements. And I will say that some programming is designed for in-person attendance but we can of course make accommodations for accessibility there. Global cohort programming is will operate in Australian Eastern Standard Time and as I’ve mentioned a couple of times it’s currently planned for a Tuesday and Thursday mid morning Sydney time but the final times will be determined once we know that cohort and we’ll do our best to align with everyone’s availability. But do bear in mind it is Australian Eastern Standard time for some of you outside of the time zone. We will be able to record some of the sessions but they are designed for live attendance wherever possible. The program is also designed to be delivered in English and, as required, sign interpretation will be available. And a quick note on our coaches and mentors. All of them speak English but some of them are bilingual and multilingual, so if there are language needs there we can do our best to match up. Okay Investment. So what that looks like for the Global cohort is $100,000 Australian dollars for 6% Equity but as we navigate this process we are equipping you with some legal sessions. So to ensure you have full understanding we’ve organised a legal session with Legal Vision to go through the Accelerator agreement and our suggested shareholder agreement. That will be as a group and then we’ll give you access to one-on-one legal advice with a Legal Vision lawyer for up to four hours. And that’s just between your startup and a lawyer, it doesn’t include any of the Remarkable staff team in those sessions and it will be at no cost to you. We really want to help you navigate the investment process and understand your rights and obligations there, and you’ll then have an opportunity to meet with Pete. And this is all before you sign anything, so we really want you to to be informed in making those decisions. Okay so before I move on to the ‘what startups we’re looking for’ in application process, does anyone in the live session have particular questions about program inclusions and how that operates? I’ll just pause for a moment you can put a digital hand up or type in the chat. My chat box has just disappeared Pete, am I missing anything in the chat? [17:34] Pete Horsley, Remarkable – question from chat It’s just a question about could you explain how the equity works? So so for companies coming into Remarkable we do have we asked that you have a company structure where you’re a for-profit organisation. So if you’re not-for-profit then we, unfortunately at this time, aren’t working with not for-profit companies we’re working with for-profit companies. And so if you’re not familiar with kind of setting up a shareholders structure for your business, that’s where you can get some support from Legal Vision. So they’re at an arms length to us, so they’re operating on behalf of you and your startup. They are not operating on behalf of CPA or Cerebral Palsy Alliance or Remarkable, they are are there to really help you navigate that process. So in doing that we give, we invest $100,000 into what is a generally a fairly early stage company, and as part of that as well you get all the value that Emma has spoken about of: the mentors the coaches, who we pay, as well as access to our networks and access to all the experience that we bring around Disability Tech that we’ve been kind of focused on for the last 8 years. So it is worth much, much more than just the $100,000 but the $100,000 is cold hard cash for the Global cohort. It is a little bit different for those of you, I know we’ve got some people here from the states as well, a little bit different there so. And I’m just seeing some of these other questions come through. [19:23] Emma Earley, Remarkable – question from chat So some of the other questions I will answer in terms of sort of Eligibility and Stage. I wonder if, maybe Pete you can answer this one? If an applicant has already raised funds at a valuation slightly higher than that of Remarkable’s is it possible to negotiate? [19:39] Pete Horsley, Remarkable We can. So if that has been a recent raise and it has been with sophisticated investors not just friends and family then we can certainly have a look at that and open to that. [19:54] Emma Earley, Remarkable So the other ones (questions in chat) hopefully I will answer in the next little section because the first part was about program inclusions but if I don’t I will make sure to get to them. So ‘what startups are we looking for’? And please continue to post your questions in the chat. So a note on Eligibility. So obviously Disability Tech, that is what Remarkable is here to accelerate. So your startup needs to clearly benefit people with disabilities directly or indirectly and that can include disability, health and aging spaces as well. So Stage. Having a bit of a zoom issue here there we go. So ideally the Stage we’re looking for is post-product and post-revenue, but if you are an earlier stage med tech product we really encourage you to apply as well because we acknowledge the longer path to market in particular. If you feel like you might be in a bit of a grey area, I’d really encourage you to apply. But if you are very much earlier than that, perhaps next year’s cohort of Launcher might be a better fit for you. If you really are unsure feel free to send us an email. Okay Business Structure. Pete mentioned before, for-profit and then also for-purpose is very important to us but a not-for-profit structure unfortunately is not eligible for our Accelerator program. Okay you need to be Growth Ready, it’s all about growth here. So that means your tech needs to be able to scale, to help more people. And finally your innovation needs to be ‘remarkable’ and what does that mean for us? So we are seeking innovators who are focused on positive impact and groundbreaking innovations. Okay so, ‘Who in particular are we looking for’? What types of startups and what do you need to know and have. So a clear solid, understanding of the problem and how you validated that. So clearly describe in your application the problems that you’re looking to solve for people with disability, and how you validated that. This problem needs to be solved and your solution is the way to solve it. Please make sure that you are providing evidence of this, and that could be customer interviews, research statistics or other verifiable data, could be lived experience and subject matter expertise of you and your team members. So the solution needs to be scalable and Remarkable. So a strong solution that solves that problem. And tell us why your technology is remarkable – why, how are you pushing boundaries? We’re not looking for copies with the tiniest of tweaks of things that are already in market, we’re looking for unique innovations that can really make impact here. And then your team. Why are you the right team to solve this problem? Let us know. If you happen to be a solo founder let us know how you manage all of the things that go into a startup. Do you utilise contractors or are you looking for a co-founder maybe or how do you go about managing all of the the moving parts and why are you the right person or people to do it. We’re also looking for people and teams that are coachable, willing to get out of your comfort zone and those with a growth mindset. We’re not after people who sort of think they already have all of the answers, like let’s work hard and figure it out together. And then Program Fit. So it needs to be aligned and engaged. So we want people who would love to be active participants in our Accelerator program, building in and with community. Someone who actually wants to partner with us at Remarkable as your support team, almost like an extension of your team. And I will make a note here if you are only looking for funding, that’s perfectly valid, but it’s not the right fit. We want people who want to be actively involved in our program and within the cohort. Importantly each of these things aligns with the application questions, so please bear that in mind. And this on this slide, this is an image of Cheryl Gledhill who is an Accelerator alumna and she’s now a mentor, a coach and a masterclass facilitator for our programs and currently works at Culture Amp. Okay so ‘How to craft successful applications’. I mentioned a little bit before about those specific areas that will include but please, please, please it sounds so simple read all of the frequently ask questions and application questions before you hit submit. We are asking all of the questions for a reason, they have been consciously crafted and reviewed. And use plain English, explain it to us simply and clearly. We have diverse judging team from different backgrounds, different neurotypes and different sector expertise, so explain it simply and clearly. Don’t skim over anything, another thing that might seem a little bit simplistic but answer everything and give everything care. We score each category numerically, so that’s important to note. So don’t only focus on one area that you think you might be particularly strong and not give each of the other questions and sections the same love and energy and attention because we score each category numerically. But with that, bear in mind that long answers don’t necessarily mean better answers. If you can explain things concisely it can often demonstrate that you have a clear understanding and a better handle of your startup. And then finally be authentic and honest. You don’t need to answer what you think we want to hear, be authentically you. And I will make a note there that if you feel like you might have a bit of a gap in one of the questions or one of the areas, I’d encourage you rather than to leave it blank or omit an answer, acknowledge that gap acknowledge that area for support and growth because we want people who do have that sense of awareness and are wanting to grow as well. Okay onto the ‘Application Process’. For those of you that haven’t logged in yet and seen it. So we have built our own custom portal through Glide and you access that on our website Remarkable.org/accelerator or just navigate to the Accelerator page and click apply. So it’s a three stage process. Step 1 is to develop your personal profile. To actually get there you’ll be emailed a PIN, so just bear in mind check your spam or clutter folder if you don’t get that PIN but it will give you access, you don’t need to create your own password though .Should only take up to 5 minutes and then Step 2 is to create your startup profile and give us some general information about your startup. That should take up to 20 minutes. And then Step 3 you need to select the Accelerator program. We’ve built the portal so that you can apply for multiple programs so make sure you’re clicking Accelerator in Step 3 and then that’s where you’ll answer some of those more detailed questions. And that should take up to 20 minutes. So you can see here that it might be up to 45 minutes to go through the whole process. So if you are in that grey area I don’t think it is too honorous if for you to really you know throw your hat in the ring and put yourself up for consideration if you feel like you might be on that grey area of eligibility. Please bet on yourself and be part of it. But obviously it might take a little bit longer for you to craft your responses and refine them as best you can. Okay we’ve got a couple weeks, two and a bit weeks, applications close on Monday the 29th of April. And I will make a note here that the application portal can be optimised for screen readers, there will be a toggle at the start to click to optimise for screen readers and the structure of the questions will change slightly to be more accessible there. But you can also head to the website frequently ask questions page if you’d like to download a PDF or Google doc version of the main questions, if you wanted to draft your responses before logging into the portal. I make a note of our diverse judging team. We will have a mix of genders, ethnicities and lived experience with disability and sector expertise, that’s really important to us. Okay let’s move on, to you. We’ve got a couple of frequently asked questions that we’ve been asked before and I’ve got some key dates to go through but why don’t I just see in the chat first. Maybe I’ll go bottom to top. So ‘How many places are there in the Global cohort and are teams of founders prioritised or preferred over solo founders?’ So the first answer to your question is around about 5 for the Global cohort is the number of teams but we really will look at the applications and we want the right people and the best startups that are aligned with the program. And in terms of solo versus group founding teams. Pete I don’t necessarily think it’s one or the other it’s about whether the team, irrespective of how many, is the right team. [29:29] Pete Horsley, Remarkable Yeah I think that that’s a great response like it’s we don’t have a you know a bias against solo founders. We’ve worked with solo founders before, and again it’s are you the right person solving this really big problem. That’s the thing that we’re kind of looking for the most. And do you have the ability to, kind of, draw around you others who believe in this mission as well. Like that’s, they’re the kind of key things…as I do that my phone is ringing…So yeah they’re the things that we’re probably looking for. So no preference of solo versus team. [30:10] Emma Earley, Remarkable Okay another question here is [Question] ‘What kinds of areas of work are you looking for? Mine is focused on edtech for a school age audience?’ [Answer] So critically it needs to impact people with disability directly or indirectly. So edtech could impact people with disability directly or indirectly, so I’ll leave that for you to determine but it’s not a particular edtech ‘is or isn’t’, it would be is your solution serving people with a disability. Sorry let me just scroll up. ‘Can it be (just for the benefit of people watching the recording, even though some of the questions have been answered by Pete in the chat I will speak them out loud) [Question] ‘Can it be an existing company, established 10 years ago but hasn’t traded much’? [Answer] Yes, simply yes. ‘If an applicant has already read’ oh we answered that one before. [Question] ‘If we are pre-revenue when will the equity kick in? Mine is private limited for-profit.’ [Answer] So it’s a fixed equity round, Pete has written in response, it kicks in when the program starts. It might be relevant in terms of your cash flow planning that it is about Week 3 of the program which starts the new financial year in July when the funding will actually be transferred. So funding won’t be transferred week 1 of the program, it will be from week 2 in the new financial year. [Question] ‘What kind of traction are you looking for?’ Thank you for the question. Pete do you want to take that one. [31:46] Pete Horsley, Remarkable [Answer] Yeah so I guess we are looking for kind of a product in-market that’s starting to be sold. We say on our Frequently Asked Questions as well, that if you’re a Medtech device and aren’t quite at that stage of selling to customers yet that that’s okay. And we do make some allowances for hardware technology because we know that (a) there is not a lot of help out there for Hardware startups. So the kind of traction is some early stage validation, of that through some paying customers – apart from what I’ve just said about Medtech and Hardware. That, that’s kind of … so it doesn’t have to be kind of hundreds of thousands of dollars month on month that’s coming in, we’re looking for some early stage traction there that that you’re out in-market, with customers who are wanting to pay for your product. That’s kind of what we’re looking for. [32:44] Emma Earley, Remarkable [Question] Okay another question ‘What are previous year’s success rates for applications?’ [32:52] Pete Horsley, Remarkable [Answer] Yes I think last year we had about, oh gosh, 120 applications some around that and we took kind of 7 I think was in last year’s one. So yeah you can kind of do the math on that. [33:07] Emma Earley, Remarkable [Question] ‘What level of involvement will Remarkable have in terms of the day-to-day running of each successful startup once the Accelerator is over?’ [Answer] I think I might talk to during the program ,we will support you but we’re not necessarily like working in your startup per se in terms of the day-to-day running. Maybe that’s just a nuance that my brain is is you know honing in on but we, when I sort of said think of us almost like an extension of your team, not working in your startup per se but supporting you in whatever areas that might be working with you to troubleshoot or unblock, it might be connecting you with someone who can support you, it might be giving you access to content or other resources. And then once the Accelerator is over, again in terms of working on the operating side, not that style of relationship but this might actually be an opportunity to introduce you to Kate Jenkins who is our Head of Community and Partnerships and maybe she can share ways that we are supporting our alumni community. [34:16] Kate Jenkins, Remarkable Hi everyone. Yeah we, post Accelerator we want to make sure that we we do keep you in our community because we have an incredible ecosystem of people and I our alumni are my very core to that. So my role is coming to make sure that we do nurture that community more and more. So we’re setting up ways that we can do peer-to-peer learning sessions, community networking sessions where you can meet with others and network online but also in-person. We do the in-person ones a couple of time a year but hoping to get out to more cities to do that over the year. We just recently did one Sydney where we had lots of people turn up. And yeah we also, kind of work out how we can do more, give more value in terms of like developmental learning sessions. So stay tuned for more of that in the coming weeks. [35:15] Pete Horsley, Remarkable I might just add as well we’ve got Zara on the call here, as well. So Jen we definitely want to be continue to be we’re… we’re an active shareholder so you know we we don’t want to just say thanks and see you later. We’re… we’re interested in your future success and certainly I think that the thing that Remarkable brings is the power of our network and so I…and others in the team Liza on this call as well. We still have contact with people who are from the first cohort of Remarkable and we are actively supporting them and their growth so we obviously can’t do it as intensely as what we do during the Accelerator program but certainly it is…it’s in our interest to see you succeed, and so we want to see you have the impact that you you’re hoping to have. I hope that kind of answers the question as well. [Emma] Okay another question here, I might keep it for you Kate. [Question] ‘Could you please talk about the kind of mentor support they can receive in terms of their professional expertise?’ [36:30] Kate Jenkins, Remarkable [Answer] Yeah throughout the program we have incredible mentors within the community. So we have mentors that are like working in like leadership development, oh we’ve got people like we’ve got a mentor that used to head up HR for Salesforce and Apple. You know, so in terms of professional expertise like there’s plenty of people within our community that you can tap into, as well as your coach will be there along the road you know that’s had you, all our coaches have had you know amazing experience, that would be there to support you. So developing you as a leader, you know we we want to focus on that. So whether you’re leading a team or just a a solo founder either way we have a focus on making sure that you’re getting the development that you need. And the coach’s role is really about looking out to the mentor community and seeing who’s who we can bring to you to help you with that support and it’s also you know I’m here to do that as well. So yeah lots of different people in the community that can help with that development. [37:48] Emma Earley, Remarkable Right thanks Kate, okay. [Question] ‘What is the process once applications have been submitted following the April 29 deadline?’ [Answer] So we go through through a couple of internal rounds of scoring, to screen the applicants. Then we numerically score them, then we have a selection panel to further short list to the top, however many, that we will invite for an interview. And then once the final cohort is sent offers, that’s when the group legal session, which is currently planned for the 21st of May, will happen. Then those startups will have a week to have those one-on-one legal advice sessions, and then hopefully accept the place and sign the documents by that 31st of May. So that the following week we can start onboarding and the Deep Dive process, and then the the program will will start on the 17th of June. [Question] ‘Could you explain a bit about Remarkable’s approach to IP and expectations for what stage teams should be at?’ What do you mean by stage in relation to IP – could you clarify that please Michael? [39:11] Michael Hi thanks Emma, Pete. For folks coming into the Accelerator program should folks have it already disclosed or should they be looking at working with the Remarkable or team mentors and Accelerator program, to go about navigating that as they look at entering the market? [39:31] Pete Horsley, Remarkable [Answer] I think probably the best response to that, nice to see you again Michael, is…so we want to accelerate and work with the company that has the IP. So all the IP is yours. Like there’s no… there’s no kind of question about that, that should all kind of sit with the company. Sometimes there are some interesting structures in terms of kind of IP sitting somewhere and then the company sit over here and then another kind of shell company that sits over the top of some of those things. So we we want to work with the company where the IP sits, solving the problem that is kind of a big problem that we’ve… we agree with you that that needs to be solved. So all the IP is definitely all of the startups. We do ask during the application phase if there are any IP agreements in place, just to kind of make note of those. Again mostly just so that we’re doing our due diligence, in if you’ve had contractors working on kind of parts of things that there’s not going to be some kind of claim over that IP kind of down the track that could unseat a company in some way. So that’s just kind of part of our due diligence process. And then in terms of kind of what stage they should be at before, during and during the Accelerator. Yeah I guess those we do have people within the community that if IP is a particular area of interest for you we’ve got both IP lawyers and kind of people who have worked in Venture Capital with startups that are part of our mentor and coach community as well. So… so yeah we can definitely advise and have other people help you think through that. It’s obviously all of our mentors are giving advice, it is ultimately up to you as the founder of the business to actually decide whether you kind of take on that level of advice as well. [41:37] Emma Earley, Remarkable Question in the chat. [Question] ‘Will we get financial support in coming to Sydney for the program events?’ [41:45] Pete Horsley, Remarkable [Answer] So if it’s an international we do have travel bursaries that are available there. If it’s a domestic then we haven’t in the past so. [41:56] Emma Earley, Remarkable [Question] ‘Can you be in two accelerators at once?’ Do you mean two different ones or the two cohorts simultaneously? [42:05] Audience Two different ones, like UNSW’s accelerator for example. [42:12] Pete Horsley, Remarkable [Answer] Look it I mean that’s… it is up to you, kind of…if you think that’s the best use of your time certainly we understand that startups… there isn’t lots and lots of support around for early stage startups, so I can understand I guess going for various kind of funding sources in in different places. So… and it’s just then and about do you feel like that you have ample time to, kind of, commit to the things that Remarkable requires as well as the other accelerator and be working in your business, like that’s ultimately the thing that you need to do is not just attend things – you need to accelerate your business. And so we try and find that balance between the amount of contact hours that we have, as well as, you know really having time that you are pushing forward on things and that we’re really clear about all of the kind of questions that are coming your way, what are the priority areas that are going to move your business forward the best and the fastest. So I think it’s possible. You probably just need to kind of then figure out.. yeah how am I balancing all of those kind of requirements. [43:35] Audience [Question] If there are multiple peoples in the team, you know, you can actually have shared the burden but obviously you say you know, you are right need to focus, so thanks. [43:49] Pete Horsley, Remarkable Certainly and you just got to make sure your communication is really strong, as well, across the team. Because if you’re…you know if you have different people, hearing different things from different people, making sure that the communication of that is is really well done within the team I think is important. [44:04] Audience Sure thank you. [44:05] Emma Earley, Remarkable [Questions] ‘Hey is my company eligible if it has an exclusive or non-exclusive license to the product IP?’ Good question. [44:14] Pete Horsley, Remarkable [Answer] That’s a great question Michelle. Yeah like I think, so again it’s… it’s there is nothing that kind of says anything in terms of eligibility around if you have exclusive or non-exclusive license. I guess what we do look for within there is you know, the competitive landscape – do you have a kind of you know a way of competing against others and and winning in that in that world to to make sure that your impact grows quickly. So sometimes an exclusive or a non-exclusive license, both of those things can actually be something that tips in your favour. It can also be something that you’re then wedded to the organisation that you’ve got that license agreement with and so their development is really critical in your own development as well. So there there can be kind of pluses and minuses around that as well. I hope that makes sense. [45:20] Emma Earley, Remarkable [Question] ‘Could you please define how much revenue we should be making to be eligible for the program?’ I’m not sure that it’s a specific number, it… revenue is an indicator of traction and validation. So the best way you can validate that, you know, your problem is solving the solution in the right way, that your customers need, is by having paying customers using your product. So that’s why we do ask that, but there does need to be revenue potential and a scalable business model. Did you have anything else to add on that one Pete? [45:53] Pete Horsley, Remarkable No I think that’s perfectly answered. [45:55] Emma Earley, Remarkable Okay have I missed any? We’ll have a little scan. I will just go onto another slide that has a couple of others (questions) that we’re often asked in the meantime. [Question] So…Is the program only based…only for startups based in Australia and the US? No…but we we support startups across the world. But I will make a note here, that our strongest networks and experience are in the Australian, and then US markets for the US cohort, but if you are based outside Australia and the US we do have networks in other countries but please just make sure you do take into account time zone differences. I…hopefully it’s clear but I think it’s worth saying, Which cohort am I eligible for? So if your startup is based in any country in the world excluding the US, then you are eligible for the Global cohort. And when we say based, it’s not just where the founder lives, it’s where is your… where’s your business registered and where are you mainly operating – that’s what we mean by where is it based. And then the US cohort is solely for startups in the US and it works on US Eastern Standard time. Is the Accelerator a full-time commitment? So your participation in the Accelerator time is not … as I mentioned before … expected commitment each week will be around about 7 hours and that is mostly online but the weeks that we do have the in-person events, and maybe some other weeks when like when you’re preparing for Demo Day it will be higher than that. I will make a note though that we’re probably optimising for teams that are working full-time on their startups. We don’t want this to be something that sort of sits outside of what you’re working on your business, we want it to be embedded in how you’re already working on and growing your startup. Yeah that’s actually the last of the very common FAQ’s that we have. Have I missed any in the chat? Please point out somehow in the chat, with a digital hand up or come off mute, whatever is available to you. [48:11] Liza Maclean, Remarkable Emma, I think Vinya had an extra question just around disability expertise of the sort of mentors and coaches. [48:18] Emma Earley, Remarkable Thank you…I can’t see the question but to answer that we do have a diverse range of people in our network with a lived experience, with a range of disabilities. We do also have networks within disability communities that we can connect you with. So it is a combination of network access and collaborating directly with people with lived experience with disability. [48:50] Pete Horsley, Remarkable Maybe just one other thing to add to that, is that Cerebral Palsy Alliance is also part of something called The Alliance 20. It’s a network of, it’s actually now about 25 of the largest disability service providers in Australia, and we have relationships in into some of those organisations as well. So and we have people in the team that have, that have been part of the disability sector for more than 20 years or 20 years. So…so yeah there is some deep expertise there around the disability sector. Vinya? [49:35] Audience [Question] Yeah so basically I’m a special educator, I worked for a long time in California and I came back to India to work on setting up a venture. So … the mentorship I would need would not necessarily be from you know people with expertise, just in terms of disability, but people who working on a venture you know. So like a combination of people who might have run businesses, so they really understand the branding positioning part of it. [50:08] Pete Horsley, Remarkable Yeah definitely and the other thing to kind of mention as well, is that a couple of years ago we set up the +N network, or the Inclusive Innovation Network, which is a global network of other startup acceleration programs that are in different parts of the world, and we have strong partnerships with AssisTech Foundation in India, who understand that kind of network really, really well as well. And we’ve got different kind of connections in different parts of the world, as well. So Africa, the UK, India, China, New Zealand, Canada as well as US as well. So we can tap into that expertise that kind of really is, you know some of that… that global market intelligence I guess, that that hopefully is relevant to startups as well. [51:08] Emma Earley, Remarkable Okay I can’t see any other questions. Hopefully that has been useful for you, to help you craft your amazing applications for your incredible startups, that I’m sure even if you’re not part of this particular cohort at this time, will go on to make incredible impact in the world. So thank you first of all for working on that. Thank you for joining us today. All of this information that I’ve shared should exist on the website. I don’t think there’s anything outside of that but this recording, if you did want to go back and get the notes again, will be available as a blog next week. We’re aiming for Monday but we do need to make sure that there is a transcript. And my counterpart will have a US cohort one with ASL and it does take us a little bit longer to ensure that the recording is accessible to our audiences. So maybe Monday, maybe Tuesday it will be available as a recording. If you did have any other questions please send us an email our details are on the website. 29th of April is when applications close and it’s automated, the portal will close. So you won’t be able to sort of submit after the timeline because the button will not work. So thank you so much for joining us. Good Luck. Oh is there did I miss another question. [52:36] Pete Horsley, Remarkable So it is 11:59 p.m. Australian Eastern Standard time is the time that it actually closes on the 29th. So you need to look up Australian time at 11:59 p.m. After that it, it does switch off. [52:52] Emma Earley, Remarkable Right thank you so much for joining us. Take care and I cannot wait to see these applications. Have a great week. Bye.

2024 Accelerator Ask Me Anything Session | US Startups

April 12, 2024

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Transcript [00:00] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable For those of you who I have not met yet, my name is Molly Lazarus and I run the US arm of the Remarkable Disability Tech Accelerator. You are here likely because you are interested in applying, which we are very excited about and so we’re going to go through all about the program today and then we’ll save a lot of questions for you to ask us anything. Ideally about the program but we did say anything, so your choice. So why don’t we just jump in. To start the hype a little bit I just wanted to play our most recent Remarkable quick video, so you can kind of get a feel for who we are. [00:45] Video with audio description, and Voiceover Various scenes of disabled people in day-to-day activities. Many of the greatest technological advances enabling the world right now. A girl brushes her teeth. Were originally created by. A workshop. And for people with disabilities. A family has a sign language video call. Rapid views of disabled people with disabilities utilizing various technologies enhancing their aptitude. Remarkable exists to amplify those innovators. A man in an electric wheelchair. To help transform their ideas into revolutionary tools whose benefits are felt universally. A high-tech diagram, men in wheelchairs in a gym, a man and woman walk with prosthetic legs, a mechanical hand is activated. Because technology can not only drive inclusion and equity for people with disabilities. People apply technology. It can do it for everyone. Scenes of the disabled empowered by technology, a girl plays a keyboard, a man with a prosthetic leg dives into a swimming pool, a man weight trains, another man joyfully finishes a race, a senior woman looks through virtual reality goggles, a blind man walks down a street, a girl embraces a gymnast, a woman types on a screen, a man in a wheelchair waves to a cheering audience, a little girl tries on glasses. Remarkable Disability Tech. Amplifying every human’s potential. Made possible by Cerebral Palsy Alliance and Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation. [02:02] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable Alright…we’re gonna go to the next slide and share it again. Okay so for those of you who may have just joined in the last minute again my name is Molly Lazarus this is the Ask Me Anything for the US arm of the Remarkable Accelerator. I’m going to take a quick accessibility pause and talk through what we have on the call and open up the option for anything that may not have been considered that might be needed. So we have two wonderful ASL interpreters on the call today. We have Dalton and we have Jenevieve who will be switching back and forth, so we are going to make sure they are spotlighted but if for any reason they’re not visible to you, and you need them, please make sure to stop us we’re more than happy to make sure that’s available to you. There are also closed captions. I will describe any slides that have pertinent information for those of us who may need descriptions for slides but with that being said if there’s anything that you may need that we haven’t provided please drop it in the chat, stop us, my colleague George is on the call, he’s monitoring everything and so we’re here we want to make sure this is inclusive for everybody. If anybody needs anything, this is a good moment otherwise I’ll continue. So today we’re going to talk about Remarkable more generally. We’re going to talk about the Accelerator program, the kind of startups that we’re looking for, how to craft a successful application and then we’ll take plenty of time to do FAQs anything that wasn’t really covered that you want to dig into some more. So Remarkable. On the screen is a variety of logos, probably about 50 of them, that have gone through the Remarkable global program. Remarkable is one of the longest running Disability Tech accelerators in the world. We’ve supported over a 100 companies through a variety of programs. As you may have heard in the video Remarkable is made possible by the Cerebral Palsy Alliance which is an Australian organization, and the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation which is a US organization. Globally the US program started about two and a half years ago. This will be our third cohort but we work very closely across the global program and the programs run in tandem, so while you’re at the US AMA we’ll be working on and off with the global teams and will get the whole amazingness of Remarkable. With that being said we have a variety of programs across Remarkable that I just wanted to highlight very quickly. They go from ideation, validation, commercialization, scaling and follow on funding. At the ideation stage we have our Insights podcast, which is a podcast our colleague Viv runs that talks about the space and we have Designathon which is something that our colleague George on the call runs which is really surfacing ideas and coming up with solutions kind of rapidly to those… those problem statements. Stage 2 is Launcher which some of you may have done, it just wrapped up. That program is really about product testing, you know getting kind of zero to one in your startup. The Accelerator, which I imagine you’re all here for, is really about that commercialization stage. It’s really saying you, you know what your product is. You kind of figured out revenue on some level and let’s really get our, you know, power behind you to bring it to market in a meaningful way. And then we have a newer program we just launched called Scaler and that is follow on funding for people kind of going into the next stage post accelerator and their fundraising. One of our US companies that was in our Accelerator last year Aurie, they just received some follow on funding from Scaler. So it’s a nice kind of next potential step post accelerator. So at Remarkable US we set out to accelerate ground breaking startups that can have life-changing impact on disabled people while also proving that this space has strong economic opportunity. And I think that that’s a really important piece. We’re looking to create really meaningful impact but we’re also looking to create businesses because I think it’s very important that we create a rigor around this space in terms of our ability to create sustainable business models and to prove that this is an investable market. And so we try to hold both intentions, as best that we can. To give you some stats on the companies that have gone through our US programs specifically, which again we’ve now run two cohorts. So over the last two years 9 startups went through the US program those startups have raised $ 37.9 million, they’ve created 73 jobs, they’re serving 15,000 customers, probably more because we took this data the end of 2023, so probably more at this point. They’ve secured 32 patents, they’ve gone to 8 countries for exports and their population of disabled founders is around 23%, are disabled teams, and that you know mirrors the general population. On the slide you’re going to see pictures of variety of the startups that we have invested in. You’ll see on the left the woman is holding up a little monitor that’s a spinal neural modulation you can put it on your back, it’s from Spinex and it allows people with CP or limited mobility to actually regain the neural pathways to be able to move muscles that they maybe had previously not been able to. Up top there are two men walking down the street, one with a cane that’s Wear Works they create navigation solutions for people who are blind. There’s a man pushing a wheelchair that’s Participant, they are a company that makes a affordable, really customizable wheelchair for lower and middle- income countries. On the right is Biotium, again these are all startups that have gone through our program, they make a wearable robotic that helps people with foot drop and different gate issues to be able to walk more easily and using less energy. Bottom left is a wristband with a cup and a curly thing that kind of goes around the cup and that is Hominid X, they’ve created a way for you to grip any sized object without having the universal cuff, which for people with limited mobility they often just wear that cuff and so this is a big Improvement. We have Springrose, they make a bra for women with limited mobility or dexterity. Next to Springrose is a picture of a man holding a box that says Aurie on it. Aurie makes a reusable no touch catheter that helps people who maybe need intermittent catheterization to be able to do that in a safer way that prevents UTIs. And on the right, actually don’t know what that picture is from. George do you know? Oh no it’s it’s …enable… it’s Cephable. I pulled it from their website. Cephable was in our program last year as well and they allow you to interact with your technology through anything that you want. You can do voice, hot keys, facial expressions all sorts of things. Rethinking how people use technology. So as you can see based on these and on this page I kind of put a description of all the different companies Aurie, Biotium, Cephable, Hominid X, Participant, Springrose, WearWorks and XR Navigation that, we although though we are a CP organization, we really look across the disability spectrum and we are looking to support companies that have an impact on people with disabilities more generally. So what makes our accelerator unique? For those of you who I have had the pleasure to talk to the thing that I often say is a lot of accelerators are decelerators. I was a startup founder, I went through Y Combinator I went through a lot of the big accelerators when I was a startup founder and my commitment is that this program brings a lot of rigor and that our commitment to you is that we will actually accelerate you and we will actually only take companies on that we believe we can provide meaningful value to. So commitment number two is we add value. We add value while respecting your time. I know there are two things that a founder has and can utilize, and one is their time and the other is their equity and an accelerator asks for both. And so we don’t take that lightly and we really focus on ensuring that we can add value and that we can accelerate you. We do this by making sure our program is really, really personalized. In the US we’re only taking five companies this year. So we basically build the program around the companies that are in our program. We’re not going to just give you a curriculum, that’s not how startups need support anymore in a world of chat GPT and a million you know Google videos to teach you how to do anything. We are really going to tailor the program to the needs that you have. And the last piece is community. We build in the community, we believe in nothing about us without us. We build alongside people with disabilities and we build alongside your cohort and with your team. We found if you call up any founder from this program, the community that we create and the way that we build community around your startup is really one of our key differentiators. There are not a lot of disability focused accelerators and so the community is really a value add and important part of what we do. Our operating principles. We build programming around each startup’s objectives and evaluate success on our ability to accelerate the object your objectives. So essentially you’ll come in, we’ll workshop kind of what you expect your startup to look like in four months and then we basically build programming so that you can get that support in those areas. We focus on developing a startup’s understanding of accessibility and inclusion and we support leadership and team development through the lines of inclusion. Ideally all of you will be wildly successful and you will go on not to just make products that help disabled people but you will also be employers of disabled people. And so we want to ensure that as you are building your company and your team and your values and your ways of working that you are building them in a way that also supports the future employment of disabled people in a meaningful and inclusive way. Okay so what happens during the Accelerator? Coaching and Mentoring. There’ll be Community Connections Network Access, 16 weeks of customized bespoke programming that leads up to Demo Day and in the US there will be a $55,000 investment in the form of a safe. Those are often here, they are negotiated based on the terms of your current raise, so if you’ve already raised a lot of money generally will just come in at the terms of what you are currently raising and if you haven’t raised any money we usually come in around five 5% I believe. But again that’s a conversation that you have with us, it’s not a this is what we do and and that’s it. You will have a coach that you will work with every week once or twice a week. For all 16 weeks we have found this to be a really positive part of the program. We have a huge global network of mentors. The US and the Australian program have access to all the same mentors, so if you’re like I want to understand how to use… how to get into the Australian you know system I want to talk to this person like we have those people, we have them in a lot of different places. And guarantee if you need a mentor, you don’t have them in our system we can find them for you. And again with that just in 10 connections you know starting last year companies came in and they’re like we need to have connections at X Y and Z. At the start of the program we didn’t have them, by the end of the program they we had them and the companies had meaningful relationships with them because the Remarkable name really does go a long way in terms of being able to open doors for people. In terms of the community that we have right now, we have two international cohorts that will be running at the same time, the Global and the US program. You have a Remarkable team, wonderful group of humans. You have everybody at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Research Foundation, which is the nonprofit that runs the US program it’s based in New York. You’ll have connections through Cerebral Palsy Alliance, which is one of the largest direct service providers people with disabilities in Australia. Coaches, mentors. You’ll have connections to all of the many partners that we have in the US. We work really closely with the Cerebral Palsy Research Network, which is a network of 30 hospitals and those hospitals you know focus on work with doctors any way touches CP so you get a variety of doctors since CP is so diverse. We have a huge group of people in the disability community, which you’ll be meeting with almost weekly. We are connected to most of the startups in the space and we have opportunities for you to do AMAs with Founders who are a little further along than you and in those ways you can really kind of have a intimate conversation about the things that they maybe would not say publicly but there’s a lot to learn there. And we’re part of the +N Network and the Moonshot Network, which is a group of I think 11 Global disability focused accelerators that operate in countries like China, New Zealand, Australia, India and so we have the ability to introduce you to folks who maybe know the localization of those countries a bit better. At the start of the program we will, if you are selected, we will do Deep Dives and that’s basically how we build the program. We’ll kind of spend, you know up to four hours with you, kind of getting to know what is under the hood of your startup and then we go to work to make sure that we’re building the program that will actually accelerate you. That is a 16 week program. It starts June 17th and it ends October 4th. That as I said, we’ll have weekly coaching and then mentoring sessions as needed. We’ll have 2x 75 minute sessions per week. I think those will be on Tuesday and Thursday. There’ll be a menu of things that will happen during that time, I’ll go over that later and then we’re going to have a couple in-person events. I think that’s on the next slide so let me do it, almost next slide. Okay I know I’m talking fast and I apologize, I just want to make sure we have lots of time for questions at the end. But if I’m talking too fast, tell me and I will slow down. So just-in-time content. Those are those, two 2 hour blocks every week. That will be filled in basically by what’s being highlighted in coaching sessions for what the cohort needs. And so that might be a workshop on something specific, that might be a Founder Q&A. As I mentioned like we’ve had a last year we had a ton of founders that came in and were just like here’s everything about our startup like dig in and ask me anything because this is a community and like a private space. We have Investor Panels. Almost every week. We’ll do a Remarkable Roundtable, which is kind of our version of speed dating. I guess where you’ll meet at least you know five to eight people who are either disabled or run something within the industry that might be interested in taking your stuff to the next level. And you know these Remarkable Roundtables last year have resulted in people hiring people in our community to be their heads with marketing. It’s resulted in you know big industry connections, it’s resulted in connections to the VA or to Kaiser or to different things. So it’s a, you get used to talking about your startup quickly, but it’s a meaningful way to get to know our community very quickly. And then you know the variety of different things that are could fill in Masterminds, Pitch class pitch practice things like that. For the US we’re going to have three in-person weeks, these are ideally full team weeks. So we’re going to start out actually at the Chicago Abilities Expo. This is something we used to do in the middle of the session but now that the program dates have changed we’re going to throw you right into it. Remarkable gets a booth at the Expo and so we give a space for all of our cohort to share what they’re working on at the Expo. It’s a really great way to connect with, I think the 3,000 or 4,000 disabled people who walk through that event over the weekend. That’s in Schaumburg, Illinois. Which don’t be confused, is near Chicago but is definitely an hour outside of it. Then we’re going to have our Kickstart which will be July 16th to 19th in Vermont and then we’re going to do Finisher and Demo Day in October ideally overlapping with M-Enabling, so that we can bring to together you know folks in the industry to be able to see your Demo Day. This will be the first in-person Demo Day we’ve done least since I’ve worked here, so it should be should be fun to get back in person. And then we’ll do 4 evening overlapping meetings with the international cohort that’s running at the same time. So you’ll be able to meet everybody and to connect with that cohort as well. Okay we’ll meet twice a week, I think already said all this. Two hours of coaching and then bi-weekly we have a really incredible coach who’s going to come in and kind of work on leadership and team coaching. Last year we did it in a small way and everybody asked for it in a bigger way, so that will be happening bi-weekly. So when you’re not in person you can anticipate around six to eight hours committed to the Accelerator but that won’t all be like on a zoom it might be you know working on something that we talked about or might be meeting with a coach or things like that. So accessibility. Just like this call we will meet all the accessibility needs of our program participants. Some programming is designed for in-person and we will make sure to make accommodations as needed. And the program is delivered in English and sign interpretation is available if it is needed. $55,000 is the term it’s in the form of a safe. The one key that I haven’t mentioned is you do need to be registered as a corporation to be able to to issue a safe essentially. That’s okay if you’re not, right now some folks did have to change their status like after they were accepted but to go through the process you need to be willing to do it because we just legally can’t do it for like an LLC or a nonprofit. And you’ll have the safe and the side letter to sign. Again you’ll have you’ll get to see that if you get to that point which would be great but that both of those will need to be signed by the deadline and sure to ensure your program participation. Okay what startups are we looking for? Ideally Disability Tech so it benefits directly or indirectly people with disabilities so that could be age tech, that could be preventative, that could be something that directly impacts people with disabilities but really Disability Tech, we’ve accepted a variety of of folks across that kind of span of impact. Ideally companies are post-product, post-revenue. You’re a Medtech device, we know revenue is a little longer so Medtech products are encouraged to apply whether they’re post-revenue or not. If you’re kind of on the line and you’re not sure, certainly apply that can’t hurt but it may just mean that… hey you know we reviewed your application, we think you’re awesome but next year might be a better year but then we’ve you’re kind of on our radar already, which is great. Business structure. For profit, for purpose and really we want to bring people in whose tech is ready to scale. So if you’re like, we’re kind of locked into this design and it’s not going to come out for eight months and then we want to sell. It’s probably not the right window for you to be in an accelerator because there’s not a ton we can meaningfully do from like a pre-planning perspective with you but if you’re you got your tech and you’re ready to scale, or you know for Medtech it’s a little different, we have different ways to support, this is a good time to consider the Accelerator. And we say we want the tech to be Remarkable, and basically what we mean by remarkable technology is it is groundbreaking in some way. So as much as we you know love the idea of like a faster horse, we want to make sure that what we’re supporting is actually a meaningfully different option or a totally different option for people disabilities. So in the application. We’re going to ask a few questions. It shouldn’t, if you’ve done an application like this before, I’m guessing it wouldn’t take you more than an hour or so. But we really want to understand that you’ve have a solid problem, that you’re solving for disabled people and that you’ve validated that problem. We want to understand that your solution is scalable and the element of how it’s remarkable. So again like if you’re like we make the same thing that Apple makes but we make it like 20% better. Push into that 20% so we can really understand the difference and the differentiator that kind of brings that remarkable piece into it. We want to understand who your team is, and understand that your team is committed and ready to grow. And we want to take in startups, like I said that we can meaningfully accelerate. So we want to understand your commitment, your engagement and your alignment with both what you want and if we are able to provide support in those areas. How to craft a successful application. These are kind of obvious but you came to this so odds are you don’t need to go too deep into it but read all the FAQs, a lot of the stuff we talk about is there. You can the application questions before diving in and you can even save your application as you’re doing it. Use simple and clear language. Clear language is the most accessible language and I think a lot of times when we are in the heads of our startups it’s easy to be like this is super clear but if you have a kid maybe explain it to them and see if they understand it or your grandma or somebody that can be like that doesn’t make sense because judges are reading a lot of applications and we want to make sure that they understand what you do. Again around language. don’t skip on anything but also long answers don’t necessarily mean better answers. Clear, clean language goes a long way when you’re reading you know 50 applications. And then be honest and authentic. Like we’re really committed to the space and to empowering people in it and we you kind of just want to understand what you’re doing and why you’re doing it and why this matters to you. So if you haven’t started already, like I said it will probably only take an hour you can find the application at remarkable.org/accelerator. You’re going to first set up a personal profile. Then you can add your teammates and they will get emails where they can set up their profiles. Then we’ll set up, you’ll have you set up your startup profile file that’s just kind of about your startup your problem, solution. Should only take about 20 minutes. And then stage 3 is to apply. And it’s just a few questions which you can get in and look at ahead of time but again I’m imagining it will probably take you an hour or so if you’ve done anything vaguely similar to this before. The applications will close Monday the 29th of April. The portal can be optimized for screen readers. You can download the questions on our FAQ page if you want to preview them. There’s no pitch video that is required from the judges. We’re really working to make sure that we have a diverse judging team which means across gender, ethnicity, lived experience with disability experience, ideally in the sector that you’re building for. And we’re really working to decrease bias wherever we can. For those who get through this stage a percentage will be invited to interview. For those who are, you’ll be notified, and you’ll need to have an interview booked the week of I guess it’s the week and half of May 9th to May 16th those will be probably about an hour. Okay I did it in 30 minutes that was my goal. I may have talked too fast but we are at the point where I can stop talking at you. I see we’ve also been joined by some of our Aussies who have woken up, Pete and Kate are here to also answer questions. It’s very early time, what time is it 6:30? So if you would like to ask a question, feel free to raise your hand and George can unmute you or if you’d prefer to wait it in the chat, that is also fine too. [30:28] George Miller, Remarkable That’s one question already in the chat, so we’ll start with that. [30:31] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable All right [Question] How are mentors matched to the startup, is there for example of matching for needs to startup that are not yet met by the current team? We’ll start there. [Answer] So from a mentor perspective, mentors are different than coaches. Coaches you work with every single week. Mentors there is a huge database of mentors in the Remarkable database that you are able to reach to and they know that you will. So that’s one opportunity. The other opportunity is you know as you talk to your coach they’ll surface to us the types of mentors you might want to be talking to and we we likely know who they are and who you should talk to so we can sometimes work as an air traffic controller to like get you to the right mentor. For benefit, for purpose, a C Corp is essentially what what we’re looking for a corporation of some kind. It could be a B Corp, it could be a C Corp anything that can take you anything that can do equity in kind of issue shares. Some like an LLC if we wouldn’t consider in that. [Question] What are the success metrics? Do you want to come off mute and share a little bit more what you mean that question JC? George could you unmute? Oh I can yeah. [32:07] Audience [Question] When you get when you get to the end, how do you know that you succeeded not to be yeah you should know that is it something like you set up front when you do interview and the discovery and say okay this is how we want to take you through and and this is what you’re going to need from us? [32:26] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable [Answer] Yes so our success, is really tied to your success right? So there’s a couple ways we tracked that last year. First we set… we set them as OKRs last year. We might do them as goals this year, but we set OKRs with the team at the start of the program. And at the end of the program they scored those, to say like yes we’ve meaningfully met these goals and we feel accelerated. We also took a essentially acceleration NPS for last year’s cohort and so out of 10 we scored like 9.36 or 9.4 or something like that. So we do kind of track that but really if you called any of our alumni and you said did you grow because of Remarkable, I would feel confident with you making a call to any of those people. Because I do think that whether it was the OKRs or the other opportunities that we were able to track that and that they were able to kind of meaningfully say like yes. [33:28] Audience Okay that’s very good, so growth… that’s a, that’s a great one right there and I’ve met Julia Franklin who’s from Cephable, reached out to her. [33:36] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable Okay Julia is the best. We love, we love, we love all our alumni but the Cephable team is lovely. And it sounds like you know an alumni but we try to create opportunities for alumni in a variety of ways so once you’re in the network you’re kind of in the network for good. All alumni are invited to come back to the Chicago Abilities Expo with us every year. So this year at least one of the alumni will be back with us in Chicago. We’re having an event in New York in a couple weeks, where a bunch of the alumni will be at that and I know our alumni are on their own little text thread supporting each other. It really becomes a lovely community. So I can’t say personally what it feels like to be an alumni but I’m sure Julia could could help fill you in too. Okay did… we have should I just go through the chat. I’ll continue to go through the chat. [Question] The prior accelerator companies you shared are primarily devices, hardware? How do you doing tech enabled devices? [Answer] So they aren’t actually mostly hardware. Interestingly enough I think hardware is perhaps the easiest to put in a picture and that may be why it seemed that way but you know Daisy was just talking about Cephable they’re not a hardware solution they’re a software solution. We had a company last year called XR Navigation, they are a way to essentially preview do kind of like the orientation and mobility ahead of time for a map for somewhere where you’re going. But they’re also looking to say maps are traditionally inaccessible, people who are blind can’t be geography majors, let’s make a more accessible viewer. So we actually ended up have a lot of different kinds and maybe less hardware than you would think. But we certainly have covered both. Okay [Question] Can you provide more information for Medtech devices? What stage of product dev would be suitable for this program? [Answer] Nordine would you maybe want to come off mute and share kind of where you guys are, and kind of would that be a more helpful way than to speak more generally? [35:58] Audience What I was thinking is that, so we are starting user testing. We have an alpha version. Trying to do user testing. Try and then get to Beta, that we can start commercializing. So we are not, we don’t have a product like tomorrow to commercialize but we are already doing user testing right, so we already have a working product. [36:24] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable And is yours a product that will require like FDA or other approval? [36:29] Audience So yes and no. If it’s to be used for digital control, there’s not going to be any FDA approval. Also want to use our system to control power wheelchairs and for that it’s going to be a class one device. So it’s not an FDA approval, it’s just a FDA registration and then you know some testing that is to be done. [36:53] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable [Answer] Yeah I think if you guys, I think if you are at the stage of, have a product and we need to get it to as many people as possible to to get feedback on it, potentially that could be a an area we could help. It might be a little on the early side for the Accelerator because we’re usually looking more on the like commercialization. So last year we had a company that you know was going through the FDA process but also needed to figure out the path to the VA because often that was faster and so we were able to support there. But I think, think that from a, from a like getting you to be able to connect with the community that you’re trying to serve, without knowing the in-depth of what you’re doing, it certainly but if you’re still like we’re making it and we don’t totally know what our product is then it might be slightly on the early side. [37:48] Audience Oh yeah, no no yeah, we know what our product is actually. We’re going to go to the VA in a few weeks, to work with the VA and we have a couple of partners, we have centers. So we know what we want to do. We have testing it before it’s more about accelerating. [38:03] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable So those are the areas, yeah those are the areas, that I think were most helpful in the medtech devices, is like opening doors to the variety of places like Shirley Ryan AbilityLab or the VA or you know Spaulding Rehab. Those are the areas that we probably most able to be helpful, from the kind of in-between stage of commercialization to like FDA or things like that with medical devices. The other thing that we find really helpful is not everyone but a lot of medical devices are commercialized by like, like researchers who are really like in the thick of the research and so we find helping to translate research to like how do we help general population understand what you’re doing so you can either raise the funds or you know connect with the people who might be users. We’ve also supported companies in those ways. [38:57] Audience Perfect yeah, we are, we also two researchers. Though we you know we’re more in the entrepreneurial mindset. [39:04] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable And I’m sure you guys are the best at it yeah awesome well thank you for sharing. Okay [Question] So are we looking for a specific post-revenue amount, stage or number of clients? [Answer] No, we just want to know that you have thought about it and worked on it and that the if it’s a remarkable technology and we believe it can make a meaningful impact. Whether you have five customers or a thousand customers, like it, it doesn’t matter it’s just, it’s just a way for us to understand that you’ve gotten it to that stage. [Question] Teddy asked what the application deadline is. [Answer] April 29th. [Question] MD as. Does a startup need to become a corporation before Demo Day? [Answer] You have to become a corporation before the start of the program. so we need to have all of our forms signed, to enable you to even start the program. Which would be probably by late May. In our experience for folks who needed to shift their program designation took maybe 10 days at most, so if you got to interview stage and you were not there and you it was looking promising we’d probably say hey like let’s if if you’re open to doing that let’s get it moving. If you are not open to switching your company structure, I don’t think that we could accept you. And so I think unfortunately just the way our legals work, if you’re an LLC or a nonprofit and you aren’t willing to shift it just may not be the right program. Happy to answer more if that wasn’t clear but that is, that is the unfortunate answer I have for that question. I think I’ve answered everything in the chat, maybe a little rapid fire but is there anyone else that wants to raise a hand or has questions or if not you know Pete if you wanted to say something you’re welcome I don’t see you anymore but you’re welcome to come off mute and share a little bit that about the program we generally. Do we answer everything? [Question] As a California benefit Corporation. [Answer] I think that should be fine but if you want to just send me an email Molly@remarkable.org with the company structure I’ll forward it to our executive director who deals with our legals and he can just give me a confirmation that that’s fine but I think that’s fine. [42:04] Pete Horsley, Remarkable And Molly maybe just the the another question that JC had in there about…[Question] If we’re not selected, are there other ways to participate in the community and potentially contribute as well? [Answer] 100% like we’re, we’re all driven by mission and and we want to see you know more technology in this space and often times we actually find that connecting with other founders is one of the ways that this ecosystem continues to grow, and it’s one of the things that we love to see is catalyzing connections across the ecosystem as well. So absolutely we’d love to stay connected with you, in fact often times startups that haven’t been successful… we still go on to you know provide catch-ups every now and then with various people that we think could be suitable for you business as well. So we’re just wanting to see this entire sector move forward and connections across the ecosystem are really important part of that. [43:10] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable 100% yeah. Someone has their hand up with. Hello Melissa. [43:17] Audience My name is Melissa Smith and I’m with ASL Flurry and I first of all want to say thank you so much for having sign language interpreters because it’s almost like having participated in various aspects of business and being like okay some members of my team are deaf and well we don’t have you know it’s just it’s really nice to see that access is not only possible but it’s just automatic so I want to thank you for that first off. Second of all I wanted if you could tell us a little bit more about the roundtables and the investor part and when you were going through the slide that had like eight different things, could you talk about that a little bit for me? [43:57] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable [Answer] Sure so those are kind of a menu of the types of things we might do and so they’re really built around kind of what is needed. But what we did last year which I think we’ll certainly do probably weekly this year, is the Remarkable Roundtables. And so last year we would switch off every other week, one week would be people with disabilities who might be users of the different products and so you’d be able to rapidly explain what you’re doing to those folks, they could give you feedback, they could make connections, it’s kind of like a very, very fast speed dating. And then the next week would be organizations that could be like amplifiers of your work, so that could be a medical system, that could be a nonprofit that works in a disability space, that could be a variety of folks. But what we found it was the most efficient way to get our community really jazzed about what the startups were doing and so many incredible connections came from them, but it was very informal. And the first ones everyone all the startups would come out with like their hair everywhere just like how do I talk about my startup that quickly but like by the end like the efficiency to which you can say what you do in a clear and meaningful way is so incredible it’s like such a skill that they were able to learn. So that will happen every week and then ideally every week. We’ve had Founder Q&As before. So last year we had Jamil at Heki, Ray at Biomotum, we had one of the founders of Be My Eyes like early founders of Be My Eyes come in and we create like a really safe space and we say like you can ask them anything. Like they’ve said that they’ll give you the answer if they’re comfortable. And so that’s something that we do, we’ll focus we had a session on the VA last year because we realized a lot of our startups were interested in getting into the VA, so we had somebody come in and really go startup by startup and say here are the three departments that your startup needs to talk to at the VA, like they were wonderful. And so we don’t totally know what it will look like every week but the goal is to build it around the five companies that we have so that you’re really getting value and you’re not just sitting in a session on you know funding when we could have just you know connected you to somebody who’s really good at funding and you had a one-on-one with them. So that’s kind of the the menu idea of those two weekly sessions. [46:25] Audience Okay great all right thank you, very much. [46:27] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable Yeah, yeah yeah excited you’re here. Okay I’m trying to check the chat as well. [46:39] George Miller, Remarkable That’s all questions for I think yeah. [46:43] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable All right well in that case thank you all for being here, for taking the time to learn more about the applications. Thank you to our Aussie friends for getting up at the crack of dawn, to show their faces and you can always reach out to us. [47:01] George Miller, Remarkable We’ve had one more question. [47:02] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable Amazing. [Question] I’m super interested in becoming a mentor is there a deadline for mentor applications? [Answer] There’s not and maybe George can even drop the mentor application in the chat. [Question] Can mentors also for other programs? [Answer] Yes George do you want to talk to that a little or maybe Kate either one want to talk to the mentor part. [47:28] George Miller, Remarkable I’ll let Kate talk about that and I’ll drop the mentor signup link in the chat now. [47:32] Kate Jenkins, Remarkable Yeah we’d love we’re always open to more mentors joining our community because as Molly said we’re trying to find the right mentors for the startups that we’re working with. So always expanding our community, so please… yes there’s a there’s a form but you can set up some time to have a chat with me I’d love to have a chat with you about it. Yeah we hope an incredible community of mentors all that are now based all over the world so yeah you could be working with people with this accent or anyone in between yeah absolutely. [48:12] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable Thanks Kate, we would love to have you as a mentor. Liam did I just boot you Liam I tried to unmute you. Did he go? [48:30] George Miller, Remarkable I think you should be able to come off now Liam. [48:32] Audience Can you hear me? Yes. [Question] Yeah question along the lines of you talked about earlier about the hardware software yeah my… so my… my company is based around like our website and our process Curating make a product sort of like. We you know leverage tech but it’s like know on a very minimal level and the concentration is on our process like you know developing reviews yeah. So I was just wondering if you have any sense about like if we would be applicable yeah for Remarkable? [49:44] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable What might be actually more helpful is if you want to send me your site and I can take a look and I can we can even set up a follow-up time to chat about it, just so I can not just guess but I can actually take a look and give you a meaningful answer before you have to go through the full application process. [50:04] Audience Thanks so much Molly that be great. [50:07] Molly Lazarus, Remarkable That sounds good yeah Molly@remarkable.org but we can put it in the chat too. George is on top of it. Okay well that is my email for folks who maybe were too shy to ask the question live but grateful for all your questions. Grateful for you all being here, we would be thrilled to have you apply but as Pete said earlier we’re really just looking to support the community and the greater network so always happy to have a conversation or to make an intro, whether you are in this year’s program or not. And with that thank you to our interpreters, thank you for being here, thanks to George and Pete and Kate for being here from the Remarkable team and we look forward to staying connected with you all.

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