First StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p Accelerator venture acquired
Health care tech company StoCastic acquired by California-based Beckman Coulter Diagnostics
By Rebecca Kirkman on October 14, 2022
StoCastic, a member of the 2020 StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p Accelerator cohort with headquarters in the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p at the Armory in downtown Towson, has been . It is the first venture from the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p Accelerator cohorts to be acquired.
StoCastic uses artificial intelligence to support hospital emergency department decision-making with TriageGo, a tool that integrates electronic health records and emergency department workflows. The at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and Howard County General Hospital, which see a combined 200,000 patients annually.
StoCastic, which has received National Science Foundation funding through the Small Business Innovation Research program and is a member of the Baltimore Development Corporationβs Emerging Technology Centers, found a home in the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p Acceleratorβs inaugural cohort led by Executive Director of Entrepreneurship Patrick McQuown.
Founded in 2017 by Eric Hamrock, a former analytics manager at Howard County General Hospital and Dr. Scott Levin, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, StoCastic joined the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p Accelerator in search of resources like mentorship, networking and physical office space for its growing team.
That experience laid the groundwork for its acquisition two years later.
βThe accelerator helped us be confident in strategically growing our presence in one placeβthe emergency departmentβwhich led to our acquisition,β Hamrock says.
βWe are in between a health care company and a tech company, so it was great to have someone like Patrickβwho had started multiple tech companiesβavailable to offer advice,β he says. βBeing a CEO, you donβt have a lot of people to talk to or always know who to trust, so itβs nice to have someone who doesnβt have an agenda other than giving you a place to succeed.β
The companyβs entire 11-person team is now employed by Beckman Coulter, Hamrock says, and they plan to continue working out of the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p at the Armory for the foreseeable future.
One of ΌͺΟιΒ齫βs signature entrepreneurship programs, the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p Accelerator is a fellowship providing mentorship, founder-centric programming, a $10,000 equity-free stipend and exposure to successful program alumni ventures.
It is part of the universityβs commitment to serve as a community leader and partner by extending the talents of students, faculty and staff beyond campus boundaries to create opportunities for leadership, entrepreneurship, civic engagement and experiential learning.
Earlier this week the University Economic Development Association named the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p the engaged university winner in its 2022 Awards of Excellence. The award recognizes the StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p as the top university economic development initiative in North America.
The StarΌͺΟιΒ齫p at the Armory opened last fall in a state-of-the art, 26,000-square-foot space, including 6,000 square feet of free coworking space and meeting rooms where entrepreneurs and executives connect with each other and to ΌͺΟιΒ齫βs programs and people.