RTN Corner: MURTEC Start-Up Alley: Where are They Now?
Start Up Alley made its debut at MURTEC 2020 in Las Vegas. “It was pretty stiff competition with about 15 entrants,” says Diffly. The contestants were judged on Level of Innovation, Practical Application, Ease of Implementation, Lifecycle and Wildcard (judges’ discretionary points). A panel of judges narrowed the field to the top three, who then pitched live on stage where MURTEC attendees cast their votes in real-time to determine the winner.
The winner was PathSpot, a real-time hand hygiene management solution.
PathSpot’s solution mounts on the wall next to the handwashing station and a simple scan determines whether hands have been properly washed. It is used in industries where hand hygiene is critical.
The hand hygiene solution could not have been more timely; the Pitch Slam was March 10, 2020, days before COVID-19 lockdowns gripped the U.S. “Since we all last met, we've talked a lot about handwashing, as an industry and as a society,” says Co-Founder & CEO Christine Schindler.
Since MURTEC 2020, PathSpot has been taking the world by storm. Shortly after the event in May 2020, Pathspot announced the closing of $6.5 million in a Series A round led by Valor Siren Ventures I L.P. (VSV), bringing the company's total funding to $10.5 million. PathSpot has also signed on some big-name clients – one of whom is Jon Taffer and his Taffer’s Tavern concept.
Impressive Runner-Up
Start-Up Alley runner-up Voltonix is an AI-based predictive analytics platform that helps optimize reliability, uptime and utilization for assets and delivers actionable intelligence.
Its primary market is the clinical diagnostic space and is also being used in the restaurant technology space, explains Ken O’Connell, VP of Business Development.
Voltonix’s solution is deployed in some of the biggest diagnostic labs in the country. In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Voltonix’s technology was being used on thousands of machines processing COVID-19 tests on a daily basis. “We were able to identify a 30 percent throughput issue in one of the largest labs in the country and help them increase testing,” says O’Connell.
For more information about MURTEC’s Start-Up Alley (Coming Soon!) Spring of 2022 or RTN, reach out to Angela Diffly ([email protected]).