Connecticut Innovations

Come (or ride) along with CI and hear about the companies and VCs our interns met with in New York City last week. 🚲 Major shoutout to Matthew McCooe, Alison J. Malloy and Matthew Archuleta for leading the group. 👏 Make sure to stay tuned until the end to hear some highlights from the trip! 🌆 Haider Akmal Aaron Marbley Michael Duda Brannon Jones Owen Davis David Bonfili Michael Anderson

Last week, Connecticut Innovations collaborated with Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) and Thirty Madison to host a networking event in our Hartford office, bringing together leaders across the healthcare ecosystem. 🏥 The evening kicked off with remarks from DECD Commissioner Daniel O'Keefe, followed by an engaging discussion about the current and future state of healthcare innovation in Connecticut. 👩⚕️ The conversation was led by Barry Stein, MD, MBA, FSIR, FACR, RPVI, from Hartford Health Care; Katherine Saunders, MD from Intellihealth; Melissa Reilly, from Evernorth Health Services; and Mike M., from Oak HC/FT. Shoutout to Matt Storeygard from our bio team for moderating the conversation. 🎤

Our second annual intern trip to New York City was a success! ✔ The agenda was jam-packed with meetings across the city and a rooftop networking event to finish the day. 🏙 Huge thanks to all who hosted our group.

On Wednesday, CI conquered New York City for our second annual intern trip, meeting with a few of our portfolio companies and other leading VCs in the area. 🏙️ The day kicked off with a meeting at the Yale Club with Haider Akmal from Vaal Investment Partners, where we learned about his background and experience discovering that the venture capital ecosystem was where he wanted to be. Then, we met with Aaron Marbley at 2045 Studio, a diverse private membership club that strives to combine digital networking with in-person experiences. Next up, the team walked (and biked) over to Bullish to meet with Michael Duda and hear about the impressive startups Bullish works with every day. 💡 At AlleyCorp, we met with Brannon Jones and learned about the company’s focus on progressive technology investments (shoutout for the fun reading material), followed by a meeting at Contour Ventures, where Owen Davis filled us in on how far AI can go, its limitations and its capabilities. 💻 The group made its way even further downtown, meeting with the co-founder of ACME General Corp., David Bonfili. Here, we got the company’s insight on the future of the national security space. Last, but certainly not least, we soaked in the sunset with a rooftop meeting and networking event at Wheelhouse 360, a venture fund in CI’s portfolio. 🌇 Shoutout to Michael Anderson for wrapping the day and telling us the story behind Wheelhouse’s excentric space on Duane Street. Stay tuned for a fun recap reel coming your way… see you next summer, NYC! 👋🏼

Huge news for our portfolio company Intellihealth and the State of Connecticut! 🔊 🔊 Over the past year, CI's Innovation Lab funded a pilot to support Intellihealth's medical weight management program, Flyte, in delivering virtual obesity care to State of Connecticut employees and their dependents. 👩⚕️ Last week, Connecticut Comptroller Sean Scanlon announced the state will extend the program for three years and expand its model to include additional clinicians with obesity medicine expertise at physical locations around Connecticut. 🏥 Read more about the program expansion here: https://lnkd.in/ebJNbrbT

Let’s get after it.

Did you see the forecast this week? 🌞 Summer has officially arrived (literally, today) in Connecticut, and our team at CI is fully embracing those summer vibes with our portfolio company products. Check out our most recent #ICYMI newsletter, featuring a few of our companies with the perfect summer essentials. Not on our distribution list? 📰 Sign up here to receive more news from us: https://lnkd.in/ehyyA2cT Owl's Brew 🍉 Athletic Brewing Co. 🚴♀️ Hally Hair 🌈 LOOKOPTIC 🕶 P2 Science, Inc. 👨🔬 Ellis Brooklyn 🌸 Read the full newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/e8BJKpe6

Yesterday was a day for the books at Connecticut Innovations. After many weeks of planning with Oscar Guerra and Meghan Shea, we brought together four inspiring female founders disrupting the wellness space in Connecticut. The all-day project filmed at The Village Stamford featured an exceptional lineup of entrepreneurs making significant waves across the industry.  🎬 Courtney White, president of Butternut Media Group (Pty) Ltd, led the group in a thoughtful and authentic conversation about health, wellness and the ups and downs of starting a company. Katherine Saunders, MD, co-founder and president of CI portfolio company Intellihealth; Lauren Driscoll, founder and CEO of NourishedRx; and Shannon Allen, founder of grown and CI board member, discussed revolutionizing the wellness industry through their respective ventures, including obesity management, personalized meal planning and eating fresh, organic foods as often as possible. The women not only explored industry challenges and strategies but also shared a meal together, highlighting the essential connection between nutrition and wellness. 🥗 We hope you have an appetite for what’s coming next – stay tuned.

Last night, our CMO Lauren Carmody participated in a panel with Rebellion Group as part of Shaping CT's Future: MarTech & AI Summit. The discussion explored how marketing and AI technology is evolving rapidly, transforming industries and shaping the future. 🌟

Congrats to our portfolio company Inbox Health for being recognized as one of the top ten best tech startups in Connecticut! 👏