Sonavi Labs’ CEO, Ellington West, Named In Inc’s Female Founders 100 list

Ellington West is the CEO of Sonavi Labs, a company using a digital stethoscope with Bluetooth connectivity, called Feelix, to identify and diagnose respiratory disease from lung and body sounds.

The recognition comes after she closed a seed round with over $3.5 million raised. It was supported by Sand Hill Angels of Silicon Valley, Gaingels, Nightingale Partners, Matt Hellauer of PTX Capital, and other angel investors.

The company has also received two grants through the National Institutes of Health worth over $3 million combined.

She then went on to win $100,000 in the Princeton Empower 2021 pitch competition. In addition, the company received $10,000 from Children’s National Hospital through the Bear Institute PACK (Pediatric Accelerator Challenge for Kids), and Sonavi will be launching a remote monitoring pilot with the pediatric institution.

As a result of her continued success and achievements, she now joins the likes of Stacey Abrams and Reshma Saujani on this year’s Inc. Female Founders 100 list.

In a statement, she said: “The past 18 months have made my company’s mission to improve the lives of patients battling respiratory diseases even more urgent, increasing our drive to ensure that advanced respiratory diagnostics are accessible for patients in both clinical settings and in the home.

“Thank you, Inc., for this recognition and for all the women who show up to create positive change in the world, even in the face of challenges and adversity,” she said, reported technical.

Over the past year – West has gone from strength to strength and is among a small group of Black women founders to raise millions. The number of Black women who raised more than $1 million stood at just 93 at the end of 2020, according to ProjectDiane, a number that nearly tripled from the two years before.