Announcing Our First Cohort of 2022!

Jun 7, 2022

Announcing Our First Cohort of 2022!

Jumpstart Foundry is thrilled to announce that our first cohort of 2022 is the largest in JSF history! Our Spring 2022 Cohort is made up of 18 companies that are paving the way for the future of healthcare. The addition of this cohort is an exciting milestone for the entire JSF team, and we’re looking forward to supporting so many innovators striving to MAKE SOMETHING BETTER®.

The companies in the cohort include base86EmpoweRxFirst Choice BioKlaatchLiveFreelyMy Relief WearMygenoMDOne Stop WellnessOptikal Care, Practice Axis (Formerly WellnessWins), PreventScriptsRoxie HealthSpanton BoardStart TalkingThe Shepherd CompanyTransition CNAValhalla Healthcare and XcellentLife

“As we sit more than two years after the outbreak of COVID-19, the need for innovation in healthcare has never been more urgent,” said Doug Edwards, Jumpstart Foundry’s Interim Managing Director and Jumpstart Health Investors CEO. “In 2022, we are positioned to invest our largest Jumpstart Foundry fund in founders who, like us, have set out to make something better in healthcare. We are thrilled this spring to add 18 companies to the Foundry portfolio. Each of these companies represents strong diversity, passionate founders and teams, and evidence that the movement for better healthcare in America is coming.”

We prioritize building our portfolio with only the most promising up-and-coming healthcare innovators, and we cannot wait to see what lies ahead for the companies in our Spring 2022 Cohort!

Read below for descriptions of each company in the cohort. 

 

base86, Inc.

Founders: Edward Iseravich, Jess McCarter, Nik Matvienko

base86 radically optimizes the healthcare supply chain with data and transparency to shake up a marketplace dominated by an oligopoly of suppliers. Their supplies platform transparently connects buyers and sellers to save huge amounts of time and large amounts of money, as well as eliminate the tedium of manual and menial supply ordering inside of a nearly $3 billion per year addressable market.

Ed Isarevich, CEO, leads with 10+ years of product and UX experience from Fortune 100 to startup companies with multiple successful product launches.

Jess McCarter, Director of Sales and Strategy, brings 12 years of SMB ownership experience, including a technology development firm, and ten years of social, retail, and business tech startup experience.

Nik Matvienko, CTO, has over ten years of software development expertise and was the principal architect at a supply chain company. He is also a technology evangelist who frequently appears as a public speaker.

EmpoweRx

Founders: Mary Kathleen Bryan, Freddy Peatross

EmpoweRx offers a holistic approach to reimagine contingent staffing practices for the healthcare industry. Their workforce solutions provide access to a vetted network of independent clinician owned staffing agencies to reduce hiring risk and onboarding time. The mission of EmpoweRx is to help healthcare organizations save money and medical professionals earn more by removing the layers of middlemen that have made contingent staffing so convoluted and costly over the last 25 years.

As Chief Executive Officer, M.K. brings over 25 years of leadership in operations and entrepreneurship to EmpoweRx Inc. Her expertise as a healthcare staffing manager spawned the creation of the company and her passion to bring about positive change in contingent staffing practices.

Freddy Peatross is the Chief Information Officer of EmpoweRx. He manages all technology and marketplace training initiatives. As a seasoned Registered Nurse, with more than 11 years of experience in critical care, he is passionate about empowering medical professionals through entrepreneurship.

First Choice Bio, LLC

Founders: Johannes M Breukers, Yvonne Breukers-Kegge, Sam Vasilevsky, Julia Weisbrod

First Choice Bio is a distributor that provides biotech and pharmaceutical research laboratories with whole blood, bone marrow, and derived primary immune cells from healthy and disease-carrying human donors. Current suppliers, however, are not reliable, making First Choice Bio, as a distributor, very vulnerable. To eliminate that vulnerability and dependency, First Choice Bio seeks to set up their own collection center and laboratory.

Johannes M Breukers has 40+ years of experience as an autodidact entrepreneur with a focus on business consulting, customer service and logistics. Johannes holds a degree in Computer Science from Spherion College in and a Master of Business Management from Manukau Polytech.

Sam Vasilevsky holds a PhD in Molecular Cell Biology/ Immunology from Uniformed Services University. Sam completed postdoctoral research at NIH & University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Sam has 12 Publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Yvonne Breukers-Kegge is an experienced office Management specialist, with a focus on customer service, human resources and legal compliance.

Julia Weisbrod holds a B.S. in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology from the University of Washington, in addition to a M.S. from San Diego State University in Molecular & Cell Biology.

Klaatch

Founders: Adam D. Greene, Jing Jia

Klaatch is dedicated to ending the staggering burden of loneliness in older adult communities. Their Social Quotient service is the first holistic measure of individual and community social connection and a suite of tools that increase social connection, reduce loneliness, and improve KPIs. But it’s not just about data… Klaatch collaborates with clients to help the socially disconnected overcome the habits of loneliness and make it easier to rejoin the community.

It was the conversation with his father’s healthcare coordinator about the role that loneliness seemed to be playing in his father’s deteriorating health that was Adam’s tipping point for founding Klaatch. Prior to Klaatch, Adam helped scale four startups, was a senior executive in both private and public companies, and closed over $800 million in transactions as a principal and advisor.

Jing is a data scientist designing and developing products to measure loneliness and changes in social behavior in older adults and the effectiveness of wellness programming offered in senior communities. She is a former quantitative researcher with 20+ years of experience with expertise in pattern recognition and model development.

LiveFreely, Inc.

Founders: Dr. Arthur Jue, Daniel Jue

LiveFreely provides cutting-edge digital health technology solutions that empower seniors and caregivers to take control of aging. Through AI, LiveFreely’s app, BUDDY, monitors, tracks, and alerts seniors, caregivers, and emergency services of critical health issues in real-time. BUDDY fosters a supportive, sustainable ecosystem of health professionals, families, and friends, promoting greater peace-of-mind, security, and well-being for loved ones.

Dr. Arthur L. Jue has an extensive background as a serial entrepreneur, corporate executive, educator, and author. He has provided senior leadership at technology companies such as Oracle, IBM, Hyperion, Tectura, and Twilio. He has been a consultant for health and life sciences companies such as Danaher, Molecular Devices, ForteBio, and McKesson.

Daniel Jue has over 20 years of experience in emerging technology and professional software development in companies such as IBM. A self-taught programmer, he wrote his first computer game at the age of 8. He has a deep passion for entrepreneurialism and has started several companies in the tech, import/export, and hospitality industries.

My Relief Wear LLC

Founder: Mary A McElya, MBA

My Relief Wear is a casual cold therapy clothing company with patent-pending technology changing the process of icing pain by fusing ice packs and clothing. My Relief Wear provides freedom of mobility, stops slipping ice packs, and gives time back to customers.

Mary earned an MBA at Clemson University and earned a B.A. from Temple University in Film and Media. Mary’s background includes over 15 years of experience in sales and customer experience. Mary’s creative background contributed to My Relief Wear’s unique garment design.

MygenoMD

Founder: Islam Mansour 

MygenoMD is a SaaS telehealth platform that applies genetic data to routine healthcare using AI to help millions of people live longer and healthier lives. They focus on combining remote patient monitoring with automation technologies to enable providers to deliver more personalized care.

Islam Mansour is a pharmacist and a project manager with over 6 years in launching innovative products at high-growth startups.

One Stop Wellness, Inc. 

Founders: Romy Antoine, Jamie Smith

One Stop Wellness is a health literacy platform that pays employees to identify chronic health risks and educates them to improve their behaviors in a few minutes a day. Through machine learning, each user has a personalized wellness plan specific to their health risks and engages in on-demand virtual classes to engage with leading experts. One Stop Wellness helps companies identify population health risks in real-time, predict potential claims, and reduce health costs to improve corporate culture.

Romy Antoine is a fitness expert, HR thought leader, and nutritionist. He has worked with clients all over the world to improve their behaviors and eating habits. He’s also helped companies to design and implement on-site wellness programs to have a first-hand approach to the industry.

Jamie Smith is an expert in marketing and data analytics, working with many leading enterprises. He’s also had multiple founder exits and has built many product development teams in the past. Jamie also has a degree in Occupational Health & Safety.

Optikal Care, Inc.

Founders: SueAnn Hollowell, Norman Stuart III

Optikal Care is a contact lens subscription service & voluntary employee health benefit which aims to break down the high cost of contact care into easy payroll deductions.

SueAnn is a contact wearer for over 20 years. She leverages her experience from her 1st company that was started in 2005 along with 7 years of marketing experience working with companies like Kellogg’s and UPS.

Prior to Optikal Care, Norman spent over 8 years with Verizon Wireless, where he specialized in customer service, operations, and analytics.

PreventScripts

Founders: Brandi Harless, Natalie Davis, Jay Campbell

PreventScripts™ is on a mission to empower primary care providers to simplify healthy living for their patients and ensure good health is within reach. PreventScripts™ award-winning Prevention Management System is insurance reimbursable and automates this new care offering in four easy steps through a patient health risk assessment, clinically-embedded digital service line, providing both patient-facing and provider-facing digital interfaces and experiences.

Brandi is a graduate of Vanderbilt and Boston Universities, a public health professional, former startup coach, and CEO/co-founder of PreventScripts. She is also a former clinic director, where she transformed access to primary care in western Kentucky. She served as the Innovation Director at an entrepreneurial development organization coaching startups, and recently served as Mayor of Paducah KY.

Dr. Davis trained in Pediatrics at Washington University St Louis Children’s Hospital, and practiced pediatrics for 20 years. Her personal mission in life is to partner with primary care providers to eradicate the onset of diabetes and hypertension in their obese at risk populations at scale.

Jay is a serial mobile tech entrepreneur with a successful exit, IOS app developer and instructor. He has direct and extensive experience working on both the server side and the customer facing side of apps.

Roxie Health

Founder: Varun Kumar, MD

Roxie Health is a uniquely scalable digital engagement tool that takes in patient-generated data to enable timely escalation and prevent negative health outcomes. Roxie Health uses senior-friendly text messages and web-based engagement techniques along with clinically validated assessments. Their first market is the $50B cost center of fall-related injuries for health plans.

Varun Kumar, MD served as Medical Director of Inpatient Services at the Houston Methodist ACO during its growth into one of the highest performing ACOs in the country. He was also a Board Member and medical director of Devoted Medical Group of Texas (branch of Devoted Health) for the launch of its second market in Houston. He is board-certified in internal medicine and has advised several digital health startups.

Spanton Board, Inc.

Founders: Anna Loree Spanton, John Michael Spanton

Spanton Dynamics provides pioneering assistive technology to support the immediate treatment and transfer of injured persons in a wide range of applications. Through the innovative patent-pending Spanton Board, the company is committed to revolutionizing and transforming the lives of patients and practitioners worldwide.

Anna Spanton is a creative marketer and entrepreneur. Her experience includes years of success in strategy, promotion, advertising, web design, management, and sales. She has an unyielding passion for following in her father’s dream, an eye for detail, and a personable demeanor that led to the early impact of the Spanton Board.

From the beginning, John worked with his father on the Spanton Spineboard concept. He has a wealth of knowledge of the company’s early design, engineering, and testing phases. John’s professional history is highlighted by diverse, cross-industry experience in sales, marketing, business development and operations.

Start Talking, LLC

Founder: Mark Nolte

Start Talking makes it easier and more accessible for your patients to get the behavioral health therapy they need by using their HIPAA compliant and encrypted video platform for teletherapy. Their providers are available through the camera of your smartphone, tablet or computer. So, whether you’re in your car, at work, at home, it doesn’t matter, your provider is just a click of a button away.

Mark Nolte is the Founder & CEO of Start Talking. Mark has been in the healthcare field for over 30 years, working for companies of Johnson & Johnson, Stryker, and his own company Mark Medical, Inc.

The Shepherd Company, LLC

Founders: Bill Martin, Rick Wiseman

Shepherd is a mobile platform that enables family caregivers to manage their own health — as they are caring for others. Shepherd was designed by a team with decades of experience in senior care and technology, and includes entrepreneurs with successful eight-figure exits. They have practical knowledge of caregiving from caring for their own aging parents, have recognized the need for Shepherd, and have come together to bring it to life.

As principal of MGroup, Bill Martin directed the strategic marketing of multiple senior living providers. He then founded SeniorLiving.com, an online housing and care resource for seniors and their adult children. After his personal experience in managing the care of his mother and other family members — and after talking to hundreds of struggling family caregivers — Bill created Shepherd with his co-founder, Rick Wiseman.

Rick Wiseman’s experience is in scaling underperforming technology companies. Rick’s career began in business development for MicroAge before joining upstart IVI Publishing. He followed that by leading business development at Everest Technologies, increasing the annual revenue by over 700% in three years.

Transition CNA, Inc.

Founders: Kayla Wright-Jackson, Corey Shaw

Transition is a recruiting platform addressing the widespread shortage of essential healthcare support workers, beginning with Certified Nursing Assistants. Transition creates collaboration between healthcare companies and allied health training schools to optimize employment outcomes. Transition is the first company to help employers in this market build a sustainable talent pipeline directly through partnered schools to support ongoing staffing needs.

Kayla, the Co-Founder and CEO, is passionate about reshaping the world of healthcare. After becoming a Master of Health Administration, Kayla helped recruit over 200 nursing assistants into the workforce during her years as the head of HR for a home care agency and later received direct insight into CNA school businesses.

Corey, the Co-Founder and CTO, brings more than 5 years of experience building web technologies and digital solutions in the education and healthcare spaces. He was introduced into the CNA industry by being offered to build the infrastructure for online class enrollment at one of the top CNA schools in Georgia.

Valhalla Healthcare

Founder: Alex Baqui

Valhalla is a team of doctors, developers, and data scientists on a mission to leverage AI & automation technology to solve healthcare problems. Their first solution is Allevia, an intelligent patient intake tool that automates documentation for healthcare providers.

Alex is a physician, serial entrepreneur, and native Houstonian. He received his medical degree at the McGovern Medical School in 2017 and decided to indefinitely delay residency to focus on solving problems impacting medicine with this team at Valhalla Healthcare.

WellnessWins CRM

Founder: Berit Elizabeth

WellnessWins is a CRM that enables owners of private group practices of mental health services to scale their practices by engaging and onboarding more prospects while remaining HIPAA compliant and sensitive to the unique client relationship needs.

WellnessWins was created out of necessity when Berit Elizabeth realized most Client Relationship Management systems are not conducive to the sensitive nature of acquiring new clients at group therapy practices and wellness centers. With over 10 years of experience operating fitness franchises and as a financial sales trainer and scale consultant, she became determined to create a tool to help centers offering emotional wellness services thrive.

Xcellent Life, Inc.

Founder: Victor L. Brown

Xcellent Life is a digital health & wellness company that provides an AI-powered software and mobile app platform to empower wellness using their technology for Real-time Human Diagnostics (RtHD), which is like an Onstar system for the human body. As a result of Xcellent Life’s technology and approach, they cut healthcare related costs, reduce rates of preventable illnesses, improve health, improve quality of life and ultimately save lives.

Victor L. Brown is a seasoned leader and experienced practitioner within large multi-international billion-dollar companies and startups that deploy enterprise-class software and sensor-based applications. He founded Xcellent Life to improve the quality of life for all by advancing wellness when his dad was diagnosed with type II diabetes, and he recognized that loved ones needed greater innovation and care within healthcare. 

 

Hope Helmintoller

Content Marketing Manager, Jumpstart Health Investors

hope@jumpstarthealth.co

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