It’s like a reality show for early-stage companies, perhaps a “Survivor” for startups, and Cary company Infina Connect moves on to compete another week. 

More than 500 startups from around the country applied to participate in the Wall Street Journal’s “WSJ Startup of the Year” competition, an online documentary series that will show the progress and pitfalls of 24 companies. Infina was chosen for the initial field of 24 and today in the first round of eliminations, the company made the cut as one of the 20 remaining companies.

“It’s a confidence builder for us, and our investors, and our customers,” said Siu Tong, CEO of Infina.

Infina is a health care technology company that is aiming to use information to drive down health care costs. Tong founded the company in 2010, seeing the implementation of federal health care reform and its emphasis on pay for performance as a potential business opportunity.

Engineering sparks a health care idea

In forming the idea that is the basis for Infina, Tong called upon his previous career as an aerospace engineer. When Tong worked at General Electric, he had the idea of automating the way that engine manufacturers were linked with suppliers globally. That connection made the entire process more efficient and cut costs.

“That was pretty easy to do for engineering, but nobody does that for health care,” Tong said.

So Tong set out to develop software that could inject market visability and competition into the medical realm. These days, insurance companies measure more than just costs. They have data on health outcomes, complications and other measures that are pumped through algorithms and quantified. Infina’s software crunches this insurance company data and provides information to medical professionals. Now if a primary care doctor needs to refer a patient to a specialist, the doctor can better determine where the patient should go to get the best outcome for the lowest cost. Tong says doctors are buying into the technology because health care reform incentivizes them to reduce costs.

In the last two years, Infina has only rolled out its software within North Carolina. Seeing the software in use locally allowed the company to work with doctors to refine the offering. Tong now claims Infina’s cloud-based software is used by most of the physicians in the Raleigh area. After working out the kinks and building a local track record, Infina has started to market its software nationwide. Tong said he has meetings scheduled in coming weeks with large hospital systems interested in the software. Infina, which currently employs 19, is also hiring a sales force as well as an executive to oversee business development.

Seeking customers and investors

Infina has been financed by friends and family and individual investors, some of them doctors. Tong says Infina is not in immediate need of financing but the company could be looking for institutional investment in the future. He says the biggest challenge has been getting in front of venture capital firms. The WSJ startup competition could help there.

Tong initially learned about the startup competition from entrepreneurial group CED, which suggested he apply. He said he didn’t expect Infina to be named to the competition because there are so many companies across a wide range of industries. Over the next few months, companies in the competition will be assigned tasks that they must complete. They are also given mentors who can offer guidance. The mentors and WSJ staffers will be judges, winnowing the field over the next few months and chronicling the developments online for all to see. Tong sees the competition as an opportunity to tell more people about Infina.

“Whether we win the No. 1 spot is the secondary goal,” Tong said. “Not even secondary. The biggest goal is to take this innovation nationwide and to get the second stage of funding and grow.”