Mentoring
01/24/2019

IACC connects Emilia-Romagna startup with Texas Medical Center accelerator

As part of its ongoing mentorship program with startups from the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, the IACC Texas continues to connect Italian innovators with business leaders and business opportunities in Texas.

Most recently, the IACC hosted Marco Cappellini, founder of Confirmo, an app developed by Marco and his team of programmers (above).

Confirmo is a e-signature platform that provides users with “a digital solution for all legally-binding agreements” according to the startup’s website.

After being selected for the IACC mentorship program, Marco was hoping to receive feedback from healthcare industry professionals as to the usefulness of his team’s software and interface for healthcare providers.

As a result of the 10 days he spent in Houston with a mentor selected especially for him by the IACC, he was asked to present an application to the Texas Medical Center Innovation Institute, a startup accelerator that specializes in new healthcare industry applications.

“The services provided by the Italy-America Chamber of Commerce have been extremely valuable,” said Marco when reached by phone this week. This was true “both in terms of the mentor they selected for us as well as their help in introducing us to a market that is as distant as it is different from our own.”

“In just 10 days, we were able to gather a large amount of information that would have otherwise taken us months of market research.”

Thanks to the IACC mentorship program, he added, “we were able to evaluate our potential for growth in Texas and we also able to learn more about [local] regulations.”

With more than 40 years of executive experience in healthcare and healthcare technology, the mentor selected by the IACC for this project, John Kajander, was the CEO and President of the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research Memorial Hermann (TIRR) for eight years. Following his tenure at TIRR, he served as the Texas Medical Center’s senior vice president for external relations and information and technology services for seven years before becoming a strategic consultant for Houston First in 2013. He currently advises the organization, which operates the city’s major convention venues, on how to raise awareness of Houston as a major hub for healthcare-focused technological innovation.

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the results of the mentorship program,” says IACC director Alessia Paolicchi. “John’s immense experience and impressive network of healthcare technology innovators in Houston were key elements in creating opportunity and a successful partnership for Confirmo.”

Marco tells the IACC blog that he’s looking forward to returning to Houston in the spring to present a proposal to the TMC Innovation Institute and is optimistic that he will be back in the fall to launch the new partnership.

“The past few weeks have been spent in Houston, Texas, and have been exceptional for us,” he wrote on his Facebook before returning to Emilia-Romagna. “We had the opportunity to present Confirmo to the U.S. market and to discuss the potential of Confirmo with important organizations in the healthcare, research, insurance, and legal spheres but also potential investors. We have filled our suitcases with excellent feedback and a good dose of optimism. 2020 promises to be a year full of challenges and opportunities.”