Blueflite chooses to find in Lafayette, La., advancing medical logistics within the state – sUAS Information

Lafayette, LA – The Lafayette Financial Growth Authority (LEDA) is proud to announce that drone
logistics chief Blueflite has chosen to develop into Lafayetteadditional solidifying Lafayette’s rising
status as a hub for expertise and healthcare innovation. The corporate’s choice 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 Growth (LED) through the State
Small Enterprise Credit score Initiative (SSBCI), to assist early-stage well being corporations in Louisiana. The
funding showcases how Lafayette’s collaborative enterprise atmosphere helps revolutionary corporations
thrive.

Blueflite will develop revolutionary drone expertise for medical logistics and emergency response. The
firm’s alternative of Lafayette demonstrates the group’s distinctive means to leverage a number of business
strengthshealthcare, aviation and aerospace, and expertise. Additional, healthcare innovation is a significant
driver of financial development within the state and Blueflite’s expertise 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 assist in Louisiana.

“We’re enthusiastic about this funding, which positions Blueflite to remodel medical logistics,” stated Frank
Noppel, CEO of Blueflite. “Our drone expertise delivers crucial provides like blood and medicines with
unmatched velocity, 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 expertise ecosystem. By finding on the OM,
Blueflite might be greatest positioned to make the most of the total breadth of assets provided whereas
leveraging LEDA’s enterprise growth providers and constructing connections with native tech and aerospace
expertise consultants.

“Blueflite’s superior logistics expertise will strengthen and contribute to the continuing development of our native innovation ecosystem,” stated Mandi Mitchell, LEDA’s president and CEO. “We totally embrace pioneering expertise corporations 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, expertise, and healthcare.”

“By integrating cutting-edge drone expertise with crucial healthcare logistics, Blueflite’s choice to develop in Lafayette represents precisely the sort of innovation-driven financial growth we attempt to assist throughout Louisiana,” stated Josh Fleig, LED Chief Innovation Officer. “This enlargement reveals that our whole-of-Louisiana technique goes far past conventional tasks and is driving innovation and accelerating influence statewide. We’re proud to assist this daring imaginative and prescient by way of the Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund and look ahead to the transformative outcomes it would carry to native communities.”

Following an preliminary assembly with Blueflite at an autonomous methods and robotics commerce present, LEDA’s
enterprise recruitment crew reengaged with the corporate together with Ochsner Ventures, an funding and
partnership group inside Ochsner Well being which acknowledged the potential of Blueflite’s expertise to drive
healthcare innovation.

“At Ochsner, we hunt down transformative options that enhance healthcare accessibility, effectivity, and
outcomes,” stated Aimee Quirk, Senior Vice President & Chief Company Growth Officer, Ochsner
Well being; and CEO, Ochsner Ventures. “Our funding in Blueflite by way of the Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund not solely guarantees to revolutionize medical logistics—delivering life-saving provides sooner and extra effectively—but additionally stimulates financial growth and new jobs in Louisiana. We’re proud to assist Blueflite’s enlargement into Lafayette and the optimistic influence it would have on affected person care and the economic system.”

Ochsner Lafayette Common’s Degree II Trauma Heart and community of rural hospitals will instantly profit
from the innovation Blueflite is bringing to the area.

“Making certain speedy entry to crucial medical provides is important for our trauma heart and rural hospitals
all through our area,” stated Patrick Gandy, CEO of Ochsner Lafayette Common. “This funding in drone
expertise strengthens our means 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 expertise take form in
Lafayette.”

In 2023, Blueflite established a strategic partnership with Acadian Ambulance, by 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 speedy 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
providers 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, in the end saving extra lives,” stated Blaise Zuschlag, Govt Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Acadian Ambulance.

With this funding from Ochsner Ventures, the continuing partnership with Acadian, and enterprise
growth and technical help assist from LEDA and the OM, Blueflite is poised to advance the
way forward for medical logistics, leveraging autonomous drone expertise 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 assist groundbreaking corporations which can be shaping the way forward for healthcare,
expertise, and aviation and aerospace.

About Blueflite: Blueflite is an revolutionary drone logistics firm creating next-generation autonomous supply options. With a give attention to medical logistics, emergency response, and business purposes,

Blueflite’s superior expertise offers quick, dependable, and sustainable transport for time-sensitive items.

About LEDA and the OM: The Lafayette Financial Growth Authority (LEDA) works with companies as they make choices to start out, develop or relocate to Lafayette, Louisiana. Via 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 offers assist for early-stage expertise, research-driven, and revolutionary startups. The OM’s focus lies in nurturing tech and tech-enabled ventures by way of specialised enterprise training, focused mentorship, strategic networking alternatives, and a workspace atmosphere 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 knowledgeable 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 evokes more healthy lives and stronger communities by way of 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 international locations.
Ochsner’s workforce contains greater than 40,000 devoted crew members and over 4,900 employed and
affiliated physicians.

To be taught extra about how Ochsner empowers folks to get effectively and keep effectively, 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 providers 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 Programs.

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