Meet the medical device company that won a $100,000 business pitch competition

A Metairie-based company that makes disposable devices to regulate the flow of medication won the Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week business pitch competition Thursday evening.

SafePush took home the $100,000 investment prize and earned a spot in October’s Startup World Cup Grand Finale in California, where they will compete for $1 million.

SafePush is a disposable mechanical device that screws into the tip of a syringe to control how quickly a medicine is injected into the patient. 

Tonia Aiken — a nurse, attorney and co-CEO of SafePush — said she got the idea for the company after a client lost use of a hand and an arm after an injection was pushed too quickly. Aiken co-founded the business with Kevin Edwards, who also serves as co-CEO.

More and more medicines have to be carefully pushed by nurses, she said. At the same time, however, a severe shortage of nurses is increasing stress levels, workloads and the chance for errors.

“This gives nurses peace of mind and a sense of security,” Aiken said.

This is the second time SafePush has won a business pitch competition sponsored by Nexus Louisiana. In 2021, the company won $1,000 in the PitchBR competition. 

The two other finalists in the BREW competition were Falaya, a Baton Rouge company that offers a user-friendly platform that makes it easier and cheaper to buy or sell a house, and Leroy’s LipSmack’n Lemonade, a Baton Rouge company that sells all-natural drinks made with water, sugar and fresh-squeezed lemons.