Anthogen Australia, Green Knott founders win $5000 tech grants from Optus

Queensland entrepreneur and co-founder of health tech company Anthogen Australia, Alison Stokes has been awarded a $5,000 tech grant and a mentoring session through the Optus Business Plus tech grant and mentorship program.

Green Knott founder Anthony Gabrielian will also receive a $5,000 tech grant and mentoring session with one of two prominent Australian entrepreneurs Jamal Elsheikh and Jo Burston, as part of the program.

The grants were announced as part of the Optus Business Plus Roadshow, which toured Australia earlier this year.

Anthogen Australia was launched in 2021 by its founding team, CEO and registered nurse Alison Stokes, orthopaedic surgeon Dr Jason Tsung and registered nurse Courtney Allan.

Stokes told SmartCompany it is a great honour and privilege to be chosen as one of the recipients of the Optus Business Plus tech grant for 2023.

“It means a lot given that we’re an early-stage tech health company,” she says.

“We require a lot of tech, to support our tech, and support our patients.

“Optus has some really innovative technical solutions for us to be able to contact patients and manage our data.”

Seamless growth trajectory

Stokes says she is looking forward to her mentoring session next week with entrepreneur Jamal Elsheikh, founder of One Love Australia. 

“Being an early-stage company, one of the biggest challenges is knowing what to do when and so having people like Jamal who have pioneered the way and has established experience in a startup is ever so advantageous,” says Stokes.

Stokes hopes the grant and mentoring session will provide a range of technology solutions and mentoring opportunities to support Anthogen’s efforts to deliver care to more patients across Australia.

“At the moment, we’ve gotten a controlled kind of volume of patients coming in the door, but as we expand and grow, I think having the Optus technology and capability will really allow us to have a seamless growth trajectory,” she says.

“So having a sophisticated technical or telco partner is incredibly advantageous to be able to allow us to grow effectively.

“This recognition underscores our dedication to challenging the status quo of digital health and reaffirms our mission to make healthcare more accessible and affordable.”

Anthogen’s platform uses a fully interactive app to deliver its message exactly when the user needs to hear them, based on location, activity, vitals and time of day. The goal is to empower patients with chronic conditions to improve outcomes, at home.

Stokes says the startup’s AI-based platform plays on the theme of being able to track and monitor patients beyond the clinic walls.

“This is really what the aim of the game is,” she adds.

“We have constant feedback loops, we have constant visibility and we can then get real-time information and insight into how patients are performing after diagnosis or after intervention. 

“The technology serves patients across a continuum of care, so from that point of early diagnosis all the way through to intervention and into rehabilitation, and it allows patients to have a virtual companion or support for their health.

“Allowing them to take their health into their own hands, having a support that is the right time, the right information, and that’s in the convenience of their own home. 

The model is particularly relevant to patients in regional and remote areas. 

“It’s very patient-centric, and not so much as the traditional model of care where patients come to the clinician or their physio or have their appointment,” she says. 

Stokes said as far as growing and scaling, Anthogen is building parallel markets in Australia and the US, with teams based in both regions. 

“We will be looking to continue to grow most likely in either Asia or the United Kingdom. That will be the third third market that we will look at growing,” she says. 

Optus vice president for small business Emma Jensen said the telecommunication company knows the current economic landscape is challenging for many Aussie small businesses.

“These grants and mentorship opportunities will not only support the recipients today but provide them with knowledge and technology which help future-proof their businesses,” she said.