HiCura Medical: A startup working for smarter and safer patient care
“Technology shouldn’t stay in the lab. I think this competition is a great way to highlight some of the technology that comes out of those university labs.” Dr. Cailin Ng
As a result of her own traumatic experience with an epidural during childbirth, Dr. Cailin Ng, became passionate about creating a smarter system for the popular anesthesia method. Together with Dr. Leng Yusong and Dr. Jun Ma, she developed a system that guides doctors during medical procedures using a combination of AI and ultrasound and founded HiCura Medical Pte Ltd.
As part of their startup journey, the founders decided to apply for the University Startup World Cup (USWC) in 2021 where they ended up winning the overall prize for Growth Stage startups. A win that got the company a lot of attention in the press and on social media, as well as credibility with investors:
“Winning this award has definitely given us a lot of high profile. It definitely helped in the visibility, as well as when we are talking to investors, winning the award definitely gave us some credibility that we have been recognized on the global stage. So I think that this has been a great help to us, especially now that we are on a fundraising journey,” Dr. Cailin says.
Since the beginning, the startup HiCura Medical has been fighting against the odds to ensure a safer epidural procedure. The Singaporean company faced the challenges of COVID-19, which meant that a lot of clinical studies were closed down due to lack of hospital capacity. On top of that, they struggled with cash flow, as development of MedTech in general is investment heavy and the road to commercialization long. However, through the USWC, they were able to network with other entrepreneurs in similar situations: “Joining the competition has allowed me to interact with other startups in the same space and look at how they are doing. There were also a few startups from Singapore who I got to know,” Dr. Cailin explains.
And, as a former university student from the National University of Singapore, Dr. Cailin Ng found that competing on a global scale in the USWC could be an efficient step in bringing technologies from the universities closer to commercialization:
“I think it’s great that this competition has brought to the limelight what the universities are doing and some of the interesting technology that is coming out of universities. Sometimes some of this technology is not being recognized, so I think it’s a great platform to encourage students to actually step up. Some of this technology is interesting and can help society and mankind in one form or another and it should be commercialized.”
Dr. Cailin argues that developing your communication and marketing skills is vital as an entrepreneur. She found that; “many of these people are engineers. Most of them have the technology and know what to do with the technology, but they don’t know how to sell the technology.”
“The marketing and the business part of it is actually very crucial. When you put your device on the market, half of it is the technology but the other half is how you market the product, so that people would actually purchase it. So the workshops and training at the USWC I think would make a big difference for startups,” Cailin says.
Don’t miss the chance to participate in the University Startup World Cup for a chance to take your startup to the next level. Apply here.
Read more about HiCura HiCura Medical Pte Ltd
