Jumpstart Foundry provides “first look” at Fall 2021 cohort
By Tom Ballard, Chief Alliance Officer, PYA
Nashville’s Jumpstart Foundry (JSF) held what it called its “JSF First Look: Fall 2021 Cohort” event on Friday afternoon.
During the first roughly one-hour portion of the all-virtual program, the entrepreneurs behind the 17 start-ups gave 90-second elevator pitches describing their work. After those rapid-fire presentations, the 17 entrepreneurs hosted individual Zoom rooms where attendees could have small group conversations.
At the height of the first part of the event, nearly 65 people were online, a number that also included JSF staff and the 17 presenters. JSF Managing Director Eller Kelliher moderated the event, noting that Jumpstart Foundry is “the most active pre-seed stage health innovation fund in the country.” Participants receive mentoring and other services in addition to an investment of $150,000 via standard post-money SAFE (simple agreement for future equity) notes.
Kelliher added that applications for the Spring 2022 cohort close March 31.
All of the start-ups have an exclusive or primary focus on healthcare, many were based on software, and several have a specific focus on artificial intelligence (AI). Other themes included behavioral/mental health, credentialing from several perspectives, and diabetes.
They presented in alphabetical order, and here is a quick summary of each.
- ArchiveCore was described as a “professional identity vault” for secure credential storage, sharing and verification that was created for physicians but will be moving eventually into other sectors.
- Bordeaux Laboratories is developing over-the-counter products for individuals with diabetes. Formulations are currently developed for cold, flu and allergies, and the start-up expects to launch an eCommerce marketplace in June.
- Comma is developing compostable, single-use period products.
- Diatech Diabetes has developed SmartFusionTM, an algorithm designed specifically for insulin pumps to detect different types of infusion failures that are not currently detected.
- EyeGage has developed an intelligent drug and alcohol screening technology that increases safety through mobile eye scans.
- ezClinic is focused on using AI to monitor intubated patients in an intensive care unit and alert nurses before incidences of unplanned extubations begin.
- HealthOpX partners health insurers, hospitals, and government organizations with caregivers and community-based organizations to engage and improve the health of at-risk populations.
- HireMe Healthcare is a marketplace career platform focused on attacking the healthcare hiring challenge that all providers are currently facing.
- Maro Parents, originally known as Before We Begin when we posted this April 2020 biz article, is a mobile app to help parents navigate the challenges of understanding and supporting their child’s mental health.
- MASQ Optical is focused on revolutionizing the eyewear purchasing process through a user-friendly ordering platform and an interactive virtual “try on” kiosk.
- Mentornomics is an online marketplace providing innovative supervision and training solutions for healthcare agencies, providers, supervisors, independent clinicians, technicians, and other trainees. The start-up’s solutions are designed to ease the burden of meeting state supervision regulations, documenting required training, and tracking licensure requirements.
- Mitivate was described as a healthcare analytics start-up that is building a “dual-sided marketplace” exclusively for risk-based contracts.
- Pal has developed Palbud to serve as the “Uber of autism care giving” by simplifying how families find and manage caregivers.
- Rekruut is focused on helping organizations expedite the physician credentialing process.
- Sage Medical is an AI-driven coding and billing platform that eliminates costly billing errors.
- The Skin Consult is another AI-enabled start-up that provides a marketplace for licensed providers, skin care brands and skin care seekers.
- SOAP Health has developed two AI-based products – Perfect Medical InterviewerTM and RiskvueTM – to implement the vision of the start-up’s tagline which reads as follows: “The right diagnosis every time for everyone.”
