Eighteen young companies with innovative ideas for improving animal health will lay out their plans to potential investors and business partners Aug. 29 in Kansas City, Missouri.<\/p>\n
The ninth annual KC Animal Health Investment Forum will give Vet Innovations Inc. the chance to showcase PortionPro Rx, which is programmed to dispense the appropriate amount of food to a specific animal and lock out other household pets.<\/p>\n
\u201cI came up with the concept \u2026 because I saw so many clients every day who were struggling with taking weight off their pets and realized how challenging and stressful it was to comply with and adhere to my recommendations,\u201d said Vet Innovations\u2019 chief medical officer, Troy Hexter, DVM.<\/p>\n
The veterinary-exclusive PortionPro Rx is scheduled for release in late 2017.<\/p>\n
The Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, which organizes the Investment Forum, has not publically identified the 18 presenting companies, but the participants are free to announce their invitations.<\/p>\n
Another company set to go onstage and deliver a 15-minute presentation is BabelBark, which offers a mobile app and software platform designed to connect pet owners with veterinarians, businesses and service providers.<\/p>\n
Roy Stein, the 2-year-old company\u2019s founder, described the BabelBark app as a way for independent veterinarians and business owners to \u201cengage more fully with the growing population of pet lovers, and compete with the larger, corporately managed pet retailers and health care providers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each presenting company, drawn from a pool of applicants, is seeking $500,000 to $20 million in funding. One company will earn $10,000 for delivering the day\u2019s best presentation, but all 18 will pitch their ideas to more than 400 venture capitalists and industry executives in attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis event gives companies and entrepreneurs, with innovations that seek to revolutionize global animal health, the resources they need to get off the ground,\u201d said Kostas Kontopanos, vice chairman of the KC Animal Health Corridor and president of Hill\u2019s Pet Nutrition North America.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re showcasing presenters with technologies that can solve the industry\u2019s toughest issues facing pet owners, veterinarians and the world\u2019s livestock producers,\u201d Kontopanos said. \u201cThis event is an up-close look into the future growth of the multibillion-dollar animal health industry.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Eighteen young companies with innovative ideas for improving animal health will lay out their plans to potential investors and business partners Aug.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[90],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-online","clinical_topics-news"],"acf":{"hide_sidebar":false,"hide_sidebar_ad":false,"hide_all_ads":false},"yoast_head":"\n