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

Lafayette, LA – The Lafayette Financial Improvement Authority (LEDA) is proud to announce that drone
logistics chief Blueflite has chosen to develop into Lafayetteadditional solidifying Lafayette’s rising
popularity as a hub for expertise 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) by way of 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 setting helps modern corporations
thrive.

Blueflite will develop revolutionary drone expertise for medical logistics and emergency response. The
firm’s selection of Lafayette demonstrates the group’s distinctive potential to leverage a number of trade
strengthshealthcare, aviation and aerospace, and expertise. Additional, healthcare innovation is a serious
driver of financial development within the state and Blueflite’s expertise aligns with statewide and nationwide
priorities for bettering medical logistics. This newest announcement is a part of a broader development trajectory
of Blueflite’s, and native leaders foresee extra 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 rework medical logistics,” stated Frank
Noppel, CEO of Blueflite. “Our drone expertise delivers essential provides like blood and drugs with
unmatched pace, precision, and reliability, bettering healthcare supply and saving lives.”
As a part of the growth, 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 will likely be greatest positioned to make the most of the complete breadth of sources provided whereas
leveraging LEDA’s enterprise improvement providers and constructing connections with native tech and aerospace
expertise consultants.

“Blueflite’s superior logistics expertise will strengthen and contribute to the continued development of our native innovation ecosystem,” stated Mandi Mitchell, LEDA’s president and CEO. “We absolutely embrace pioneering expertise corporations in Lafayette, and we’re particularly enthusiastic about Blueflite as their enterprise mannequin crosses a number of of our goal trade sectors–logistics, aviation and aerospace, expertise, and healthcare.”

“By integrating cutting-edge drone expertise with essential healthcare logistics, Blueflite’s determination to develop in Lafayette represents precisely the sort of innovation-driven financial improvement we try to assist throughout Louisiana,” stated Josh Fleig, LED Chief Innovation Officer. “This growth reveals that our whole-of-Louisiana technique goes far past conventional initiatives and is driving innovation and accelerating impression statewide. We’re proud to assist this daring imaginative and prescient via the Ochsner Louisiana Innovation Fund and look ahead to the transformative outcomes it should convey to native communities.”

Following an preliminary assembly with Blueflite at an autonomous methods 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 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 Improvement Officer, Ochsner
Well being; and CEO, Ochsner Ventures. “Our funding in Blueflite via 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 assist Blueflite’s growth into Lafayette and the optimistic impression it should have on affected person care and the economic system.”

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

“Guaranteeing fast entry to essential medical provides is significant for our trauma heart and rural hospitals
all through our area,” stated Patrick Gandy, CEO of Ochsner Lafayette Basic. “This funding in drone
expertise 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, drugs 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, during which Blueflite’s
subsidiary, Darkflite, secured a U.S. Division of Transportation Section 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
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, finally saving extra lives,” stated Blaise Zuschlag, Govt Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Acadian Ambulance.

With this funding from Ochsner Ventures, the continued partnership with Acadian, and enterprise
improvement 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 might be shaping the way forward for healthcare,
expertise, 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 functions,

Blueflite’s superior expertise offers 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 choices to start out, develop or relocate to Lafayette, Louisiana. By way of strategic collaborations with enterprise and trade, 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 modern startups. The OM’s focus lies in nurturing tech and tech-enabled ventures via 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 teenagers in Louisiana for 4
consecutive years. Ochsner evokes more healthy lives and stronger communities via 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 individuals from each state within the nation and 63 international locations.
Ochsner’s workforce contains greater than 40,000 devoted workforce members and over 4,900 employed and
affiliated physicians.

To be taught extra about how Ochsner empowers individuals to get nicely and keep nicely, 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 Companies, and its sister division, Acadian Air Med, is accredited by the Fee on Accreditation of Medical Transport Programs.

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