Connecticut Innovations

What a morning! Earlier today, our office was filled to the brim with ecosystem leaders, VCs and entrepreneurs for the E.D.G.E Club Founder & Funder Meetup co-hosted by Jessica Lynch, Miles Lasater and Rache Brand. 🤝🏼 We love opening our doors and connecting early-stage founders with the right people that can help them grow their businesses and be successful in Connecticut. Daniel O'Keefe David Ferretti Peter Hicks Pete Sena Marty Isaac Angel Investor Forum Webster Bank Purpose Built Gregory Raiz

Did you know 64 percent of the population struggles with obesity or being overweight? Let that sink in… Dr. Katherine Saunders, MD is the co-founder of FlyteHealth (previously Intellihealth), a CI portfolio company and a leader in supporting patients with obesity through tech-enabled medical care. Katherine recently joined us for a discussion on disrupting the wellness space and discussed how the field of obesity continues to change over time. 👩⚕️ She was joined by two other female founders in our portfolio and ecosystem, who opened up about the challenges in their respective industries and businesses. To hear more from Katherine and our other trailblazing founders, visit here: https://lnkd.in/eVeVRHQP

Shannon Allen is the creator of grown, where they make real food cooked slow for fast people, and she also sits on CI’s board of directors. She joined us recently to discuss her inspiration for creating grown and how she is redefining the meaning of fast food. 🥗 Over the next few weeks, we will introduce you to the full cast of female entrepreneurs who joined us for a discussion on disrupting the wellness space. For now, if you love what Shannon has to say and would like to hear more, click here: https://lnkd.in/eVeVRHQP

Now that our brains and our bodies have fully recovered, the team has had a moment to chat about some of our best moments from the Tour de Connecticut. 🚲 We think we’ve reached new heights with this year’s ride (literally, with our drone operator), but feel free to chime in on which pitstop would have been your favorite. #TourDeConnecticut

Today, we had the pleasure of adding a new and highly distinguished member to our CI Board of Directors. Welcome, Angela Hwang! 👋🏼 Her list of accomplishments and credentials could fill multiple posts but allow us to gush for a minute. Angela serves as Advisor to CEO and is the former Chief Commerical Officer and president of the Global Biopharmaceuticals Business at Pfizer and member of Pfizer’s Executive Leadership Team. 🔬 She was responsible for delivering all 600 of Pfizer’s medicines and vaccines to patients in 185 countries. 💉 Under Angela’s leadership, Pfizer Biopharma generated a peak of $100 billion revenue in 2022. Over the years, she has focused on creating and expanding collaborations with health insurers, governments, policymakers and global health stakeholders around the world to come up with new and better ways to meet health challenges and make medicines accessible and affordable for all. 🌎 In 2020, Angela and Pfizer’s Biopharma team launched the world’s first COVID-19 vaccine and, one year later, the first oral antiviral treatment. Though vaccines often take many years to develop and distribute, Angela and her team—inspired by a relentless focus on helping patients—made the impossible possible. Beyond her work at Pfizer, Angela serves on the board of directors of UPS and is a member of Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management Advisory Council. Angela also served on the board of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, the U.S. China Business Council and the Pfizer Foundation. Angela is consistently ranked among the world’s top leaders in healthcare and business. Fortune placed her as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business four years in a row and she is a fierce advocate for women’s leadership and sustainable global health equity. 👏🏼 Angela received her bachelor of science in microbiology and biochemistry from the University of Cape Town and her MBA from Cornell. Angela and her husband are proud parents of a teenage daughter and son. We are honored to have Angela on the board and look forward to benefiting from her insights and learnings. 💡 She joins 16 other incredible board members, who have helped to shape and guide Connecticut Innovations. Special thanks to Governor Ned Lamont for this very special appointment to our board of directors.

We are amped up about AmpUp's latest funding round! 🔋 Read more about the company's plan for its next phase of growth below. #EVCharging #CleanEnergy

Join the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development on Friday, September 27, from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Trumbull Mariott for a dynamic morning of education, networking, and opportunities to advance innovation in Connecticut. 💡 Learn more about SBIR Connect 2024 and register here: https://lnkd.in/eadgf8aC

Love seeing this now for the second straight year. A tour like this that brings together leaders from the private sector with commissioners from our administration is the kind of collaboration we're encouraging in CT. It's the value of being in a small and mighty state. Let me tell you a little secret — it's working! Together we've been able to help CT government catch up and modernize, support startups, and grow our state's economy. This is the kind of forward thinking strategies we need to build on the progress of the last few years. #MakeItHere #Connecticut

Let’s back-pedal to last week and take another look at CI’s action-packed, 200-mile bike ride across the state. We connected with over 250 people throughout our second annual Tour de Connecticut, visiting with our innovative companies and stopping by Connecticut gems along the route. 🚲💡🛶🏙️🛣️🤝🏼🌊 #TourDeConnecticut

Matthew McCooe and Alison J. Malloy participated in panel discussions yesterday, hosted by the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce. Alison’s star-studded panel discussed the future of innovation in the Greater New Haven area and was followed by an equally impressive panel with Matt and policy leaders on setting policy that will propel New Haven and Connecticut forward. Special thanks to Garrett Sheehan for having us and to all the panelists who made this event a success. 👏 CI was thrilled to be part of an event that was focused on continuing the growth, innovation and expansion of the home of our headquarters, New Haven. 🏙 Josh Geballe Ranjit Bindra Jason Price Martin Looney Vincent Candelora Justin Elicker David Steuber