2021 Shark Tank Competition
Epilepsy News From: Friday, February 18, 2022
The Epilepsy Foundation’s Shark Tank Competition seeks the most innovative ideas in epilepsy treatment and care. In 2021 we had two submission categories, the Investment Prize and Community Impact Award.
In total, 25 individuals or teams entered the competition from across the United States and 7 countries throughout the world. From this pool, 7 teams were chosen as finalists. These finalists presented their innovations on June 17, 2021, at the 2021 Antiepileptic Drug & Device (AEDD) Trials XVI Conference in Pennsylvania.
2021 Shark Tank Competition Winners
$250,000 Investment Prize Winner - Tobias Loddenkemper, MD and Miku, LLC
Tobias Loddenkemper, MD, Harvard Medical School/Boston Children’s Hospital and Miku, LLC
Radar and Video-Based General Tonic-Clonic Seizure Detection System
Dr. Loddenkemper and Miku, a smart baby monitoring company, partnered to develop a general tonic-clonic seizure detection system with video and radar.
$25,000 Community Impact Award Winner - Deborah Koltai, PhD and Angelina Kakooza-Mwesige, MD
Deborah Koltai, PhD, Duke University School of Medicine, North Carolina and Angelina Kakooza-Mwesige, MD, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, Uganda
An Epilepsy Self-Management and Resilience Technical (SMART) App for Adolescents & their Community
Drs. Koltai and Mwesige are developing an app designed to provide educational resources and connect adolescents with epilepsy to community centers that help them learn from others.
Shark Tank Finalists
Investment Prize
Tim Buckinx, CEO, epihunter NV
Externalize brain state: a wearable EEG device and corresponding algorithms to track absence seizures.
Nao J. Gamo, PhD, Founder and CEO, NeuroSonics Medical Inc.
Minimally invasive focused ultrasound for the treatment of drug-resistant epilepsy: a miniaturized focused ultrasound device that improves epilepsy surgery for refractory epilepsy patients.
Dr. Omid Kavehei, CEO, BrainConnect Pty Ltd
Leadless subscalp EEG: is a wearable EEG device that removes the need for leads in EEG devices that help detect seizures. BrainConnect Pty Ltd aim to create a minimally invasive solution for ultra-long-term seizure monitoring using a sub scalp implant which is smaller than typically implants, wire free, and only requires a simple surgical placement.
Community Impact Award
Richard Smith, Founder and CEO, Shower Belt
Shower Belt Safety System: a drowning prevention device for use in the shower.
Matthew Speed, Co-Founder and Partner, Photo Sensitive Cinema (PSC)
Seize the Wheel: Improving Patient Care Through VR: allows people with photosensitive epilepsies to watch television and films safely.
Shark Tank Judges
Thank you to the 2021 Shark Tank judges!
- Greg Mayes, President & CEO, Antios Therapeutics
- Joe Morris, Managing Director, Canal Pointe Capital
- Nicole Murray, Corporate Philanthropy Officer, Epilepsy Foundation
- Ashwini Sharan, MD, Professor, Neurological Surgery & Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University
- Laura Thrall, President & CEO, Epilepsy Foundation
Want to be involved in the next Shark Tank Competition? Find updates about the next Shark Tank Competition here or see the finalists present at this year's 2022 Epilepsy Foundation Pipeline Conference in Santa Clara, CA.
Reviewed Date
Wednesday, February 23, 2022