Stoke Coworking recently sponsored one of our member companies, Cortex Therapy Solutions, to attend the FUND Conference in Austin, TX. Their primary goal - secure or at least discover potential avenues of investment. Cortex currently has their prototype, a solid business strategy, and are in the process of finalizing a partnership with a tier one research institution.
Cortex helps individuals with communication, cognition, and swallowing disorders like those who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injuries, dementia, and alzheimer's by providing an all-inclusive therapy solution. Founder and CSO Madison McClure, a Speech-Language Pathologist herself, came up with the idea for Cortex Therapy after experiencing many frustrations related to her work. The reality is one in five Americans are affected by these conditions, and of that population, roughly twenty percent of patients readmit to the hospital within thirty days of discharge. More people suffer from these types of disorders than heart disease or cancer patients combined. They are working to secure $800,000 in funding to finish out the back-end coding of their app, and get started with clinical trials.
The team of three including Keaton George, Madison McClure, M.S., CCC-SLP, and Sky McClure, M.Ed., started out at FUND by making the best use of their talents. Madison, being a Speech-Language Pathologist oversaw the booth and delivered their presentation. She received 30 seconds to introduce their product on stage to investors, most of whom were panelists, giving Cortex a good amount of exposure. Madison's presentation was flawless, managing to keep viewers engaged while thoroughly conveying Cortex's value proposition.
Sky and Keaton networked amongst other companies, receiving advice on funding from a number of startups who’d already gone through their seed rounds, along with FUND’s parent company, Venture Connects. In Sky’s words, “These aren’t questions you can simply find answers to on Google. Fundraising is about building and maintaining relationships with people who eventually become investors. Those that have been along for the ride, seen your progress from ideation to prototype.” Fortunately, Cortex was able to follow up with a few potential investors from Dallas that they’d met through Code Authority last year when they won CodeLaunch.
Coming from Sky - “There’s a huge disconnect for startups seeking funding, especially angel funding. Events like FUND Conference are critical and can be a great resource for emerging companies whether for investment or establishing key relationships that pay off in the future.” Now, back home in Denton, the team continues their search for investment while also exploring alternatives such as university grants.
As the startup and small business community continues to grow in Denton, TX, we here at Stoke Coworking strive to empower entrepreneurs of all sorts. In an effort to support Denton’s ecosystem, Stoke will be pursuing efforts towards establishing the first investment group for startups located in and around Denton, TX.
