BALTIMORE, May 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The American Urological Association (AUA) today announces Laura Venier, founder and CEO of Arche Biotechnologies, as the winner of the Early-Stage Innovation Nexus Award, sponsored by Laborie.
The Award is a $20,000 grant recognizing exceptional early-stage startups with bold ideas and transformative potential in urology. It celebrates innovation at its earliest and most pivotal stage, where new technologies and approaches can meaningfully improve patient outcomes, expand access to care, and redefine clinical and operational excellence.
“Breakthrough solutions in urology often begin as bold, early ideas, and meaningful progress depends on support at the very start of that journey,” said Dr. Steven Kaplan, Innovation Nexus physician director. “This partnership with Laborie reinforces our commitment to empowering innovators as they transform promising concepts into solutions that can advance care and improve patient outcomes.”
Arche was selected from the AUA Innovation Nexus Forum Showcase presentations in the Pre-Seed or Seed segment of the Showcase. The medical device startup was created to address a critical gap in healthcare: manual fluid monitoring. Arche developed the Arche Outlet Monitor, a non-invasive smart sensor that clips externally onto existing medical tubing to automate fluid data collection. By delivering continuous, real-time and reliable datasets, the system enables proactive care, earlier detection of complications, and more informed clinical decisions—improving patient outcomes while reducing the workload on healthcare teams.
“Laborie is proud to invest in the future of urologic care through sponsorship of this award,” said Rob Hanson, Executive VP and General Manager of Urology at Laborie. “By supporting innovation at this critical stage, we extend our mission to improve patient dignity well beyond our four walls.”
By investing in early-stage innovation, Laborie and the Innovation Nexus program aim to foster solutions that can shape the future of healthcare. The Award is designed to support visionary founders developing novel technologies or solutions and to encourage scalable, measurable impact across healthcare delivery, diagnostics, and clinical care while strengthening connections between innovators, industry leaders, and the investment community.
About the American Urological Association: Founded in 1902 and headquartered near Baltimore, Maryland, the American Urological Association is a leading advocate for the specialty of urology and has nearly 25,000 members throughout the world. The AUA is a premier urologic association, providing invaluable support to the urologic community as it pursues its mission of fostering the highest standards of urologic care through education, research and the formulation of health policy.
About Laborie: Headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Laborie is a global medical technology company focused on Urology, Urogynecology, Gastroenterology, and Maternal and Child Health. We manufacture and deliver high-quality, high-impact diagnostic and therapeutic products that help clinicians and hospitals preserve and restore patient dignity. Clinicians and hospitals look to us as the market-leading experts in our business segments, and we support our products with a world-class clinical education & information program. Laborie is a portfolio company of Patricia Industries. For more information, visit www.laborie.com.