FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 3, 2022
Led by the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) within the California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), the Inclusive Innovation Hub (iHub²) program’s investment will help accelerate regionally focused strategies to spur innovation and diversification across industry sectors and geographies while attracting entrepreneurs from underserved business communities.
Heal.LA is a new collaborative initiative to improve the health and wellness of Los Angeles County, and beyond. Founded in late 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic and powered by Larta Institute, Heal.LA provides a development platform for promising tech startups to positively impact underserved communities and at-risk populations.
Recognizing the importance of creating an inclusive, equitable, and diverse workforce for the future of the Los Angeles region’s economy, the Heal.LA Initiative shall also advocate for and assist aspiring entrepreneurs to obtain funding that can translate their ideas into sustainable healthcare enterprises for impact in the LA region.
Via Heal.LA’s Bioscience & Healthcare Accelerator, the iHub² program’s investment will help to nurture and scale life-saving innovations that can positively impact the health and wellness of local communities. The six-month accelerator program – which is free to participate in for aspiring entrepreneurs – offers a unique combination of connections, resources, and funding opportunities. The Heal.LA program is backed by Larta’s proven methodologies and world-class experts from the life sciences industry. Larta is a pioneer in advancing promising healthcare ideas to the market, having designed and managed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Commercialization Accelerator Program (CAP) over a period of seventeen years for thousands of early-stage founders.
“We are honored to serve as an Inclusive Innovation Hub for our region in California,” said Rohit Shukla, Founder and CEO of Larta Institute. “Los Angeles has the most diverse population in the country. In a post-pandemic environment, it also has great promise as the ‘gene pool of the world.’ Larta’s Heal.LA, as the iHub for the region, will focus on supporting aspiring entrepreneurs, especially those from undervalued communities, as they launch innovative approaches to healthcare focused on the needs of this community.”
Tara Lynn Gray, Director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) commented “California has a big appetite for innovation and frankly it is a part of our competitive edge as a state economy. It is imperative that we support clustered regional approaches and ecosystems focused on solving some of society’s most significant challenges through research and development, technology transfer and commercialization in areas such as the life sciences. With diversity, equity, and inclusivity as mission critical core values, CalOSBA recognizes the uniqueness of the Heal.LA program, the necessary experience of its program partners and the potential for the Heal.LA inclusive innovation hub to change the game for diverse founders across the region.”
L-R: Andre de Fusco – Founder and CEO at Hawkeye Bio; Christopher Earl — Acting Deputy Director & Southern California Regional Advisor at California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA); Diana Sanchez — Project Manager at Founding team of 7 Generation Games; Gunjan Siroya — Senior Advisor, Interim Director, Sustainability at Larta Institute; Tara Lynn Gary — Director, Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) at the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom, Office of Business & Economic Development; Rohit Shukla — Founder and CEO at Larta Institute; Frank T. Willis — President and CEO at Intellisense Systems, Inc.; Judy Hsieh — Heal.LA Program Operations and Program Director, Life Sciences Practice at Larta Institute; Carlos Gutierrez — Chief Strategy Officer at Larta Institute
Heal.LA has also received support from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) to serve as one of only two bioscience Regional Innovation Clusters (RIC) in the country. Heal.LA is also supported by private funding from industry including Gilead Sciences and Wells Fargo. Partners of the Heal.LA Initiative include leading academic institutions, life science incubators, hospitals, healthcare facilities, and venture investors including:
Cedars-Sinai | The Lundquist Institute for Biomedical Innovation at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center | BioscienceLA | Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California | UCLA Technology Development Group | Biocom California | MedTech Color | Consortium For Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics | California State University, Los Angeles | Rio Hondo College | Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center | Alliance for Southern California Innovation
About CalOSBA
Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) within the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GO-Biz) helps support economic growth and innovation by working to ensure that California’s small businesses and entrepreneurs have the information, tools and resources they need to plan, launch, manage and grow their businesses successfully and be resilient. The CalOSBA serves to elevate their voices in state government and to advocate on their behalf to help ensure all aspiring and current small business owners and entrepreneurs are provided with the opportunity to access capital, access markets, and connect to the networks and resources they need to succeed. For more information visit the website.
About Larta Institute
Larta Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization accelerating innovation & entrepreneurship. Larta’s mission is to foster science & technology innovation for a sustainable planet. The organization was founded in 1993, in Los Angeles, as California’s regional technology alliance to stimulate the economic development of technology-based enterprises. Larta quickly became the national partner for numerous federal government agencies to commercialize novel research & innovation – including DARPA, NIH, DOE, NSF, NIST, NOAA, and USDA. Today, Larta’s innovation platform & ecosystem accelerates new science & technology from idea to sustainable enterprise – by providing a unique combination of connections, resources, and funding. Larta Institute has served over 4,500 startups, and alumni of Larta’s programs have raised over $6.5 billion in funds. Together, let’s feed, fuel, and heal the world. For more information visit the website.
Media Assets
Read the iHub² press release from CalOSBA and GO-Biz: lnkd.in/e7bGQA5s
To learn more about Heal.LA Initiative visit: larta.org/heal
Apply to join Heal.LA’s Accelerator program: larta.org/programs/heal-accelerator/
To learn more about iHub² visit: calosba.ca.gov/funding-grants-incentives/ihub2/
Media Contact
For Larta Institute
Office of Brand, Marketing, and Communications
Email: BMC@larta.org
