Lafayette, LA – The Lafayette Financial Improvement Authority (LEDA) is proud to announce that drone
logistics chief Blueflite has chosen to increase into Lafayetteadditional solidifying Lafayette’s rising
popularity as a hub for know-how and healthcare innovation. The corporate’s determination is backed by a
strategic, $250,000 funding from Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund (OLIF), a $10 million fund
established by Ochsner Well being, in partnership with Louisiana Financial Improvement (LED) through the State
Small Enterprise Credit score Initiative (SSBCI), to help early-stage well being firms in Louisiana. The
funding showcases how Lafayette’s collaborative enterprise setting helps modern firms
thrive.
Blueflite will develop revolutionary drone know-how for medical logistics and emergency response. The
firm’s selection of Lafayette demonstrates the neighborhood’s distinctive potential to leverage a number of business
strengthshealthcare, aviation and aerospace, and know-how. Additional, healthcare innovation is a significant
driver of financial development within the state and Blueflite’s know-how aligns with statewide and nationwide
priorities for enhancing medical logistics. This newest announcement is a part of a broader development trajectory
of Blueflite’s, and native leaders foresee further and more and more stronger partnerships on the horizon as
Blueflite scales from its base of help in Louisiana.
“We’re enthusiastic about this funding, which positions Blueflite to rework medical logistics,” mentioned Frank
Noppel, CEO of Blueflite. “Our drone know-how delivers important provides like blood and medicines with
unmatched pace, precision, and reliability, enhancing healthcare supply and saving lives.”
As a part of the enlargement, Blueflite will open a brand new workplace on the Alternative Machine (OM) in Downtown
Lafayette, turning into a part of the area’s healthcare and know-how ecosystem. By finding on the OM,
Blueflite shall be greatest positioned to benefit from the total breadth of assets provided whereas
leveraging LEDA’s enterprise improvement companies and constructing connections with native tech and aerospace
know-how specialists.
“Blueflite’s superior logistics know-how will strengthen and contribute to the continuing development of our native innovation ecosystem,” mentioned Mandi Mitchell, LEDA’s president and CEO. “We totally embrace pioneering know-how firms in Lafayette, and we’re particularly enthusiastic about Blueflite as their enterprise mannequin crosses a number of of our goal business sectors–logistics, aviation and aerospace, know-how, and healthcare.”
“By integrating cutting-edge drone know-how with important healthcare logistics, Blueflite’s determination to develop in Lafayette represents precisely the type of innovation-driven financial improvement we try to help throughout Louisiana,” mentioned Josh Fleig, LED Chief Innovation Officer. “This enlargement exhibits that our whole-of-Louisiana technique goes far past conventional tasks and is driving innovation and accelerating impression statewide. We’re proud to help this daring imaginative and prescient by the Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund and look ahead to the transformative outcomes it’s going to carry to native communities.”
Following an preliminary assembly with Blueflite at an autonomous techniques and robotics commerce present, LEDA’s
enterprise recruitment workforce reengaged with the corporate together with Ochsner Ventures, an funding and
partnership group inside Ochsner Well being which acknowledged the potential of Blueflite’s know-how to drive
healthcare innovation.
“At Ochsner, we search out transformative options that enhance healthcare accessibility, effectivity, and
outcomes,” mentioned Aimee Quirk, Senior Vice President & Chief Company Improvement Officer, Ochsner
Well being; and CEO, Ochsner Ventures. “Our funding in Blueflite by the Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund not solely guarantees to revolutionize medical logistics—delivering life-saving provides quicker and extra effectively—but additionally stimulates financial improvement and new jobs in Louisiana. We’re proud to help Blueflite’s enlargement into Lafayette and the constructive impression it’s going to have on affected person care and the economic system.”
Ochsner Lafayette Normal’s Degree II Trauma Heart and community of rural hospitals will immediately profit
from the innovation Blueflite is bringing to the area.
“Guaranteeing fast entry to important medical provides is significant for our trauma heart and rural hospitals
all through our area,” mentioned Patrick Gandy, CEO of Ochsner Lafayette Normal. “This funding in drone
know-how strengthens our potential to ship life-saving care when and the place it’s wanted most—whether or not
it’s blood merchandise for emergency surgical procedure, medicines for rural communities, expediting lab samples or
important provides in catastrophe response conditions. We’re excited to see this know-how take form in
Lafayette.”
In 2023, Blueflite established a strategic partnership with Acadian Ambulance, during which Blueflite’s
subsidiary, Darkflite, secured a U.S. Division of Transportation Part 1 SBIR contract for a pioneering
drone-based blood supply system to boost prehospital care by offering fast and environment friendly supply
of blood merchandise and medical instruments to crash victims and emergency responders. Acadian Ambulance,
based in Lafayette in 1971, is a number one supplier of medical transportation. The corporate’s various
companies span well being, security, safety, training, and transportation.
“Acadian’s collaboration with Blueflite signifies our dedication to embracing technological developments and delivering distinctive worth to our sufferers and healthcare companions. This innovation can considerably improve prehospital care and emergency medical response, finally saving extra lives,” mentioned Blaise Zuschlag, Government Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Acadian Ambulance.
With this funding from Ochsner Ventures, the continuing partnership with Acadian, and enterprise
improvement and technical help help from LEDA and the OM, Blueflite is poised to advance the
way forward for medical logistics, leveraging autonomous drone know-how to enhance affected person outcomes and
healthcare entry throughout Louisiana.
The partnership between Blueflite, LEDA, OM, Acadian and Ochsner Well being exemplifies how Lafayette
continues to draw and help groundbreaking firms which can be shaping the way forward for healthcare,
know-how, and aviation and aerospace.
About Blueflite: Blueflite is an modern drone logistics firm growing next-generation autonomous supply options. With a concentrate on medical logistics, emergency response, and industrial purposes,
Blueflite’s superior know-how gives quick, dependable, and sustainable transport for time-sensitive items.
About LEDA and the OM: The Lafayette Financial Improvement Authority (LEDA) works with companies as they make selections to start out, increase or relocate to Lafayette, Louisiana. By way of strategic collaborations with enterprise and business, state and native authorities, and training companions, LEDA drives financial development and diversification for Lafayette Parish. The Alternative Machine gives help for early-stage know-how, research-driven, and modern startups. The OM’s focus lies in nurturing tech and tech-enabled ventures by specialised enterprise training, focused mentorship, strategic networking alternatives, and a workspace setting designed to fulfill high-growth startups’ dynamic wants.
About Ochsner Well being: Ochsner Well being is the main nonprofit healthcare supplier within the Gulf South,
delivering skilled care at its 46 hospitals and greater than 370 well being and pressing care facilities. For 13
consecutive years, U.S. Information & World Report has acknowledged Ochsner because the No. 1 hospital in Louisiana.
Moreover, Ochsner Youngsters’s has been acknowledged because the No. 1 hospital for youths in Louisiana for 4
consecutive years. Ochsner conjures up more healthy lives and stronger communities by a mix of
standard-setting experience, high quality and digital connectivity not discovered anyplace else within the area. In 2024,
Ochsner Well being cared for greater than 1.6 million folks from each state within the nation and 63 nations.
Ochsner’s workforce consists of greater than 40,000 devoted workforce members and over 4,900 employed and
affiliated physicians.
To study extra about how Ochsner empowers folks to get properly and keep properly, go to https://www.ochsner.org/
About Acadian Ambulance: Acadian Ambulance is the most important employee-owned ambulance service within the
nation, offering transportation and medical companies to areas in Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi, and
Tennessee. It’s accredited by the Fee on Accreditation of Ambulance Providers, and its sister division, Acadian Air Med, is accredited by the Fee on Accreditation of Medical Transport Techniques.
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