News

By Scott Meacham It is exciting when Oklahoma startups set out to change industries. That’s the story of Cage, an Oklahoma City company with customers from around the world. Cage provides a web-based tool that helps creative professionals—from freelancers to branding agencies to in-house creative departments—collaborate on projects and share ideas in one place inRead more

By Scott Meacham In this Thanksgiving week, I am reminded of all that we here in Oklahoma have to be grateful for—our friends, neighbors, and co-workers; the natural resources and beauty of our state, and, especially, the tenacity and creativity that is such a driver of entrepreneurship and new company and new job creation. IfRead more

By Stephen Prescott, M.D. When Novartis announced earlier this month that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had approved the company’s new drug to treat sickle cell anemia, the press release didn’t mention Oklahoma. But it should have. That drug, known as Adakveo, is as Oklahoman as redbuds and scissor-tailed flycatchers. Indeed, but for workRead more

By Scott Meacham Recently, when Elliott Adams, author of The Startup Mixtape: The Guide to Building and Launching a High-Growth Technology Startup signed up for i2E’s Venture Assessment Program (VAP), it was a great opportunity for us to gain perspective from an industry pro. Elliott’s book is based on his broad experience in entrepreneurship. HeRead more

By Scott Meacham When Younghwa “Henry” Shin, Ph.D., a co-founder and CEO of Excitant Therapeutics entered graduate school at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), his interest was neuroscience. Then, during a year of rotation structured to give students a taste of different projects and specialties, he was assigned to Dr. Jian-Xing (Jay)Read more

By Scott Meacham The energy is powerful when Oklahoma’s successful and “wannabe” entrepreneurs gather for the Oklahoma Entrepreneurial Summit and the simultaneous Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? (WWTB) event for college level entrepreneurs. This year’s program is Friday, November 15. The Summit begins at 8:30 a.m. and concludes with a networking luncheon, which participantsRead more

By Scott Meacham Growing up I used to love to listen to Paul Harvey’s The Rest of the Story on the radio. The nuances he would bring to light with just a little deeper look were fascinating. After reading Dale Denwalt’s column in the Oklahoman (October 20) headlined “Insiders Report Flaws in State Startup Ecosystem,”Read more

By Jim Stafford Once a year, the Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology (OCAST) gathers scientists from across the state who are currently receiving funding from its health research program in a sort of show-and-tell educational event. Recently, about 100 OCAST-funded life science researchers assembled at the Samis Family Education Center onRead more

By Scott Meacham Successful entrepreneurs and innovators are passionate. They know their products inside out. They are driven to ask for feedback and then to listen as their customers describe what they like and what they don’t. They are evangelists for the industry they represent. When that industry is the beverage industry, savvy entrepreneurs knowRead more

By Scott Meacham When I set out last week to write about Aevus Precision Diagnostics, it was because this early stage startup has a compelling concept for tackling type 2 diabetes (T2D). As I heard more about Aevus co-founders — Puneet Chadha and Yash Sagar Santani — I recognized that their story is also aRead more

By Scott Meacham Diabetes is at an all-time high. An estimated 30 million people in the U.S. (about one in ten) are living with this chronic, incurable disease. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is most common. More than 20 million people have this condition which can contribute to heart attack and stroke, vison loss and blindness,Read more

By Scott Meacham Lupus is chronic autoimmune condition with devastating effects. The disease is difficult to diagnose. Its course is unpredictable. There is no cure and few FDA-approved medications. Patients who have lupus live with its impact for the rest of their lives. At times, the disease flares up and gets worse; in remission, symptomsRead more

By Scott Meacham Kidney dialysis is a life-saver for patients with end-stage renal disease. When the kidneys can no longer clean waste products out of the body, dialysis can add years to a person’s life expectancy and for kidney transplant candidates, can help buy time until a kidney transplant becomes available. However, most dialysis inRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman When a looming medical problem exists, people usually hear about it — so much so that even lay people become familiar with the scientific names — angina, arrhythmia, blastoma, lymphoma, hepatitis and the like. Cirrhosis, the condition of scarring and permanent damage to the liver, often fromRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman During one of the earliest conversations I had with Dr. Ryan Dennis, CEO of Linear Health Sciences, he told me that he was living his dream. I wanted to know more about that. Is it the dream of a curious young boy who grew up in aRead more

September 12, 2019 Contact: Sarah Seagraves, Senior VP for Marketing (405) 813-2403 sseagraves@i2E.org Oklahoma-based Kirrhos Pharmaceuticals is developing a novel, first-in-class treatment for a severe form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease known as NASH OKLAHOMA CITY — i2E, Inc., recently led an $850,000 seed investment in Oklahoma City-based Kirrhos Pharmaceuticals, which is developing a therapeuticRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman Of the more than 120 types of brain and central nervous system tumors, Glioblastoma (also called GBM) is the most aggressive — a deadly brain cancer with no cure. Glioblastomas often appear with no warning or prior symptoms. These Type IV tumors tend to produce their ownRead more

August 28, 2019 i2E, Inc. and the Choctaw Nation provide intensive, one-day business assessment class to help small businesses validate concepts, expand market, capture new revenues Contact: Darcy Wilborn, (405) 813-2424 contact@growok.org GrowOK, a free one-day venture assessment workshop designed to help rural and tribal entrepreneurs understand the markets they serve is returning to DurantRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman This summer, I’ve been writing about lessons learned since coming to i2E nearly six years ago — specifically lessons about technology entrepreneurship in our state. It seems fitting as we head toward Labor Day, that I wind up this summer series with a recap of my heartfeltRead more

By Scott Meacham Copyright © 2019, The Oklahoman For high-growth startups and their early stage investors, there are two primary paths to longevity and returns—an initial public offering (IPO) or a merger/acquisition by another (typically larger) company. MoneyTree reports that in 2018, 86 venture-backed firms held IPOs and 689 venture-backed firms achieved exits via mergerRead more