Jumpstart Foundry, a Nashville, Tennessee-based seed stage healthcare innovation fund, has selected 15 startups for its 2019 cohort. The companies have footholds in the ambulatory, hospital, devices, payer and consumer spaces.
Via email, Jumpstart Foundry brand marketing manager Rachel Hengesh said her organization has an industry first investment philosophy. “We interview the industry, find what the buyer (the healthcare industry) wants to buy — then invest,” she said.
Hengesh added that the fund has “created a proprietary scoring algorithm we use during our deal sourcing and application process.” It also uses its portfolio map, which can help identify opportunities and ensure a diverse set of business models.
The 15 startups will visit Nashville on May 30-31 for programming, which includes speakers, workshops and meetings with executives. Here’s a closer look at the latest cohort:
- AGOGIE makes pants that contain resistance bands. The aim is that by wearing these pants, users can burn calories and build stronger muscles.
- Based in Arizona, Kegelbell offers a vaginal weight lifting system. Women can use it to target their pelvic floor muscle.
- ScribeLink utilizes a remote scribe who can listen to a doctor’s interaction with a patient and document it. The goal is to reduce physician documentation burden.
- Madison, Wisconsin-based CarePool has a transportation procurement platform. It connects special needs passengers with their care managers, trained drivers and third-party payers.
- Lotus Scrubs is a subscription-based service that medical professionals can use to purchase scrubs.
- Nouri, a company based in Georgia, creates probiotic capsules targeted at gut health.
- Ruth Clinic provides medication-assisted treatment for opioid addiction recovery. In addition to prescription medications, patients receive assistance from a physician and a counselor.
- Headquartered in Albuquerque, New Mexico, iTherapyDocs creates software solutions for the Medicaid intellectual and developmentally disabled market. Its platform strives to improve agency management efficiencies and eliminate administrative errors.
- Medifies has a platform that lets healthcare providers send mobile notifications to patients’ family, friends and caregivers. The goal is to give patients’ loved ones the peace of mind to leave the waiting room and come back when they need to talk to a doctor.
- Intelligent Observation offers a system that lets hospitals track hand hygiene compliance with the aim of reducing hospital-acquired infection rates.
- Lytic has virtual care tools that help patients find and receive care. Its Clearstep product is a chatbot that lets users type in their symptoms, and it will offer potential causes of symptoms and next steps.
- Another Georgia-based company, surefhir, is a data governance EMR plug-in that promotes care coordination. It uses artificial intelligence to automate chart reviews and delivers automatic updates to the care team.
- Vision Care Connect, which is based in Nashville, offers a range of ophthalmology services and refractive surgery solutions that correct common vision problems.
- CaptoGlove produces a wearable hand machine interface and sensors to turn hand movements into digital outputs. It was originally created as a health rehabilitation tool for patients recovering from strokes but is now also used for applications in fields like gaming.
- Based in Los Angeles, California, Curemint has a platform that centralizes the purchasing and billing process between suppliers and dental organizations.
Photo: Peshkova, Getty Images
