Startup Spotlight: SweetBio

Spotlight | Epicenter Memphis

In 2015, SweetBio went through Epicenter’s ZeroTo510 Medical Device Accelerator, and in the eight years following their accelerator experience, they have continued to grow and expand their company in amazing ways – from right here in Memphis.

Meet SweetBio

As a Latina founder, Kayla Rodriguez Graff has faced her share of challenges in the startup world: “Early on in our journey, I’ve had people say to me ‘we only invest in older men with white hair.’ I wish I was kidding.” Despite that, her company, SweetBio, which she runs with her brother and co-founder Dr. Isaac Rodriguez, has raised nearly $7m to date. 

In 2015, SweetBio went through Epicenter’s ZeroTo510 Medical Device Accelerator, and in the eight years following their accelerator experience, they have continued to grow and expand their company in amazing ways – from right here in Memphis. Since the start, their company has focused on bioengineering medical-grade honey into wound care products. Using familiar and affordable materials (collagen and Manuka honey), SweetBio has developed a dissolvable pad that works to close wounds, particularly those chronic in nature and difficult to close.

Wound care is an issue that hits close to home for Kayla and Isaac – their great-grandfather passed away after complications following an amputation, which began with a diabetic wound on his foot that would not heal. A few decades later, the prognosis for many people with diabetic wounds remains the same – amputation. Advancements in medicine have yielded cutting-edge wound care products, but unfortunately, most Americans cannot afford them. As Kayla puts it, “this leaves millions in the standard of Vaseline and a bandage, giving hardly a chance to heal their wound and creating catastrophic and expensive downstream consequences. SweetBio is closing the gap between performance and affordability.”

In 2019, Rodriguez Graff joined the Epicenter Board of Directors. “A lot of people think it’s sexy to be an entrepreneur, and yet every day an entrepreneur is struggling,” she said. “What I can bring to the board is empathy. I’m living this right now. It’s critical to have an entrepreneur on the board because it’s easy to get far removed from the daily challenges of fundraising and running a company.”

Under the leadership of Kayla Rodriguez Graff, SweetBio is helping to forge the path to more compassionate leadership for other women, Latinx founders in tech, and future burgeoning Memphis entrepreneurs of all kinds. They do this by being decidedly different. Instead of building walls around her best practices, they’re quick to share a word of advice. It’s not uncommon to see Rodriguez Graff at ecosystem events or sitting on panels. She’s unflinchingly committed to employee wellness. She matches her impressive qualifications and savvy as a CEO with as much generosity and kindness. “It would be smart to be involved with Epicenter because they have a big name, but that’s not why I do it,” Rodriguez Graff says. “I do it because I know it will make a massive difference for the companies that come after me. I don’t know if SweetBio will reap all the benefits, but it will change the game for our city, and that’s why I am part of it.”

SweetBio is currently headquartered at the UMRF Research Park at the University of Memphis (of which Dr. Isaac is an alum!) CommuniTech Research Park. After spending years clearing federal hurdles, FDA clearance processes, patents in 16 countries, and getting SweetBio products covered by Medicaid, they are looking forward to launching existing products into new markets, including a hopeful leap into the over-the-counter space.

SweetBio is on the cutting edge of bioengineered solutions that will hopefully be accessible to millions of Americans very soon. Perhaps in the near future, you’ll be able to purchase a SweetBio wound care product at your local drugstore or have a wound care kit shipped directly to a loved one’s home. If that day comes, you can take pride in the fact that Memphis entrepreneurs Kayla Graff Rodriguez and Dr. Isaac Rodriguez are helping to forge a more compassionate world, where wound closure is accessible to many more of our community members, family, and loved ones.

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