Westchester Reporter

Emerging life sciences ventures from the fifth cohort of the Westchester County Biosciences Accelerator (WCBA) participated in the annual Pitch Day event on May 9, 2024, in New York City. The event included pitches and presentations from these ventures and featured a keynote address by WCBA alum Mousa Ahmadi, Ph.D., co-founder of Laronix. Ahmadi discussed his entrepreneurial journey from Australia to New York and shared best practices he has identified along the way.

Westchester County Executive George Latimer commented on the event: “The caliber of ideas and innovations among this cohort of life sciences entrepreneurs is truly impressive. We are proud to play a role in each of these venture’s growth journeys and wish them continued success.”

Deborah Novick, Westchester County Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, added: “The founders in this year’s cohort are working on amazing innovations that will transform patient care in a range of diseases, enhance preventive care, and improve efficiencies in clinical trials. The progress they have made during the months of the Accelerator program is inspiring, and we look forward to continuing to support them on their entrepreneurial journeys.”

WCBA Program Director Mary Howard highlighted the quality of this year's participants: “From digital health solutions using AI to novel approaches to cancer treatments, the ventures graduating from this cohort are exceptional. We are pleased to offer this program to local life sciences entrepreneurs and look forward to welcoming our next group of emerging ventures this December.”

The 2024 WCBA cohort includes ventures such as Super Bot, which blends AI with human intelligence to empower underserved communities by providing vital services and offering valuable insights for inclusive product development.

The Westchester County Office of Economic Development established WCBA in 2019 to foster growth within the local life sciences sector. Delivered by FirstXFounder over six months, the program offers coaching, networking opportunities, mentorships aimed at helping ventures grow, attract funding, expand teams, and find flexible space for research and operations.

Westchester County hosts New York State's largest life sciences cluster with 8,000 jobs representing 20 percent of the state's total private sector life sciences employment. This cluster includes academic institutions conducting basic research alongside R&D startups, large manufacturers, and supply chain participants.

About The Westchester County Office of Economic Development:

The office works towards improving economic well-being and quality of life within Westchester County through activities designed to attract jobs, create new opportunities, retain existing jobs while fostering a resilient economy.

About FirstXFounder:

FirstXFounder supports emergent biosciences ventures by founding programs like ELabNYC for NYCEDC in 2012, ABCT for CTNext in 2017 as well as WCBA in 2019. Their alumni include notable companies such as Cresilon and Monogram Orthopedics among others.

For more information about WCBA or other initiatives by Westchester County Office of Economic Development visit their respective websites.