Autism: Insights & Startups

Hello!

As you may know, I’ve begun a monthly email series to provide insights and highlight innovation and startups. To those new joining, welcome! Grateful to have you in my community as colleagues, partners, clients and friends.

With learning and testing out a new writing platform, I’m getting this email in under the wire as April was World Autism Awareness month. Though every day is an opportunity to celebrate the wins in autism innovation.

Over the last year, I’ve collaborated with Multiple Hub, an organization that is dedicated to catalyzing innovation in autism. Many thanks to Amy Helgeson, Director of Community at Multiple Hub, who provided deep insight and assisted in the creation of this article!

My hope is this email shifts mindsets and further enables action for this underserved market.

In this issue, I’ll discuss autism challenges to care (i.e., there is no medical standard of care for autism), market size, economic burden and highlight game-changing innovation in genetics and startups in: Diagnostics, Neuroplasticity and VR.

If you enjoy reading, please share with others, especially those individuals and families managing autism.

Ok, let’s dive in!

Multiple is a non-profit innovation platform (501c3), connecting an ecosystem of entrepreneurs, funders, autism experts and dedicated families. Multiple connects innovators with the resources, funding and contacts they need to turn ideas into successful ventures that target the needs of people with autism.

Launching in 2022, Multiple has grown to over 1,600 members, including 500+ investors, 400+ startups and 70 mentors, among others. In the last year, Multiple has supported 75+ companies via its startup accelerator and showcases. On Friday, April 28th, Multiple hosted a fantastic virtual investor panel with over 300 attendees.

Learn more at end of article on how you can get involved in the Multiple community!

Autism is a spectrum because it presents itself differently in each individual, where each has a distinct set of strengths and challenges. Some have higher support needs, such as those that are non-verbal and/or self-harming (biting, self-injury) and some have low support needs, such as social communication and soft skills.

There are many subtypes of autism, influenced by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. “Autism it is often accompanied by sensory sensitivities and medical issues such as gastrointestinal (GI) disorders, seizures or sleep disorders, as well as mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression and attention issues.”¹

Signs of autism usually appear by age 2 or 3. Boys are 4 times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls.

The Global Autism Spectrum disorders market was valued at $27.3B in 2021 and projected to reach $43.2B by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 4.6% from 2022 to 2031. ² 

According to the latest research from the CDC, autism spectrum disorder has been identified in 1 out of 36 children aged 8 years old in the United States! ³

Worldwide, it is estimated that 75 million people have autism spectrum disorder.

Even though autism is a large market, alarmingly there is currently no medical standard for physicians working with autism - most don’t receive training on how to provide care. ⁴ 

And there is no medical test to diagnose autism spectrum disorder. Doctors monitor a child's behavior and development to diagnose.

In 2030, the economic cost of autism is estimated to be $589 billion per year and $1.36 trillion per year by 2040.⁵ 

“On average, autism costs an estimated $60,000 a year through childhood, with the bulk of the costs in special services and lost wages related to increased demands on one or both parents. Costs increase with the occurrence of intellectual disability.” ⁶ 

Because of the high yearly costs, “poverty amongst families with an autistic child is growing in the United States at a rapid rate, and there are not enough government-funded programs available to assist them. Families with autistic children do have options and assistance, but from privately funded organizations.” ⁷ 

As autistic children enter adulthood, economic impact increases. As this market size increases, this could present a massive challenge for the overall economy - all the more reason to begin tackling solutions now.

• “Over the next decade, an estimated 707,000 to 1,116,000 teens will enter adulthood and age out of school based autism services.” ⁶

• “More than half of young adults with autism remain unemployed and unenrolled in higher education in the two years after high school. Nearly half of 25-year-olds with autism have never held a paying job.”⁶

Long term, the biggest impact will be research in genetics to help with precision medicine and treatment for autism.

Identifying genes associated with autism will further help identify subsets. Currently, “scientists have identified variants in 102 genes linked with an increased probability of developing ASD.” Researchers discovered that 53 of the 102 genes were mostly associated with autism. ⁸ 

Learn more about groundbreaking genetic research in autism below:

• MSSNG project - creating the world’s largest whole genome sequencing database on autism with deep phenotyping

• Simons Foundation - funding innovation autism research

Highlighting startups in the Multiple Hub community solving for autism, from diagnostics, neuroplasticity and VR.

Diagnostics

• BioROSA is a seed stage startup and is actively seeking investor commits. You can get in touch via email at [email protected].

• iDiagnostix’s ASD Protein Pattern test has recently completed successful clinical validation and a submission for FDA regulatory approval is now being prepared. Team is aiming to complete this in 2023 for market availability early 2024.

• The iDiagnostix team welcomes enquiries from prospective investors and regarding partner licenses.

Neuroplasticity

Faster to emerge is innovation to existing therapies and an area of promise is using neurofeedback for brain training and increasing neuroplasticity.

• BlinkLab is seeking investor commits and collaborations with autism centers to participate in their worldwide studies.

• JelikaLite is currently seeking investor commits, in order to conduct a Pivotal clinical trial for the FDA regulatory approval.

• There will be a new clinical trial using Cognilum in SUNY Upstate Medical (Syracuse NY) starting this summer. If anyone is interested in having their child participate, they can reach out to [email protected]

  Visit JelikaLite

• PigPug Health would like to invite those with autism or parents of autistic children to participate in their short survey, which is being conducted in collaboration with researchers from Stanford University who are committed to advancing our understanding of ADHD and ASD and developing new, innovative treatments.

Virtual Reality (VR)

• Floreo is currently collaborating with Meta to bring Meta Quest 2 headsets to classrooms via their Immersive Learning Program - educators can Learn more here.

• For more information or to setup a meeting, accredited investors can reach out to [email protected].

Watch this video to learn more about Floreo

Ways to get involved with Multiple Hub:

• If you’d like to become a mentor for Multiple’s ecosystem and have knowledge with autism spectrum disorder, please get in touch.

• If you’d like to continue supporting Multiple’s mission and work, you can learn more here. Major donors, companies and organizations are encouraged.

• Multiple’s next accelerator cohort is approaching - deadline is June 2nd - apply now or forward along to those who may be interested.

Learn more about Multiple here - team, startups, impact report, etc

Thank you for reading!  ❤️ 

Research Sources:

•  ¹ Autism Speaks  

• ² Allied Market Research 

• ³ CDC.gov 

• ⁴ NIH.gov 

• ⁵ Springer 

• ⁶ Autism Speaks: Statistics 

• ⁷ Myasdf.org 

• ⁸ Medical News Today