Announcing the Winners of the Health Equity Innovation Challenge
Concord, NC – August 2, 2024 — The Health Equity Innovation Challenge winners were announced by the Flywheel Foundation. The cohort is underway under the leadership of our title sponsor Atrium Health – Greater Charlotte North Area and other collaborating organizations.
The Challenge is in its second year and received over 80 applications. Twenty companies were advanced to the semifinalist round by a screening committee including sponsors and community organizations focused on the challenge priorities, which include leading indicators of health disparities and social drivers of outcomes.
The winners were among nine Finalist companies invited to pitch at the Cabarrus Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Concord, NC to the Advisory Board overseeing the program. The winners are:
- AKALAKA – AKALAKA is the community for care partners to handle life together. They provide a digital platform enabling care partners to sustain timely, thoughtful, and delightful long-term care for family and friends to live longer, healthier lives at home and in their communities of choice.
- Grapefruit Health – Grapefruit Health is addressing the massive staffing shortage in healthcare by creating the first and only tech-enabled workforce composed of local clinical students. They recruit, train, and manage these students to perform work remotely on behalf of healthcare organizations.
- House Call Counseling & Healing Arts – House Call Counseling is a social enterprise that connects counselors with communities by streamlining access to care through technology and community partnerships.
- mPath – mPATH is a B2B SaaS company that improves healthcare organizations’ bottom line with an automated platform that closes preventive care gaps. mPATH™ is a low-cost, cloud-based program that identifies individuals who are overdue for routine screening tests, provides personalized education, and connects patients with needed care.
- Zutado Soul – They prepare complete balanced meals using whole, fresh ingredients; nothing is overprocessed or fried to maintain proper nutrition.
The Challenge is a business idea competition seeking solutions to problems causing disparities in healthcare outcomes experienced by communities of color and those at 200% poverty level in the region including Cabarrus, Rowan, Iredell, Stanly, and North Mecklenburg Counties. The Challenge requires engagement with the target populations in these Counties for proof-of-concept testing.
The five companies selected will receive a total of $17,000 in grant funding, twelve weeks of curated acceleration, and two years of incubation in the Venture Mentoring Services program at the Cabarrus Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. In addition, the companies will be introduced to strategic partnerships and additional investment capital.
“Winning the Health Equity and Innovation Challenge has been a transformative experience for both myself and my company,” said Jessica Bruno, founder of House Call Counseling. “The collaborative energy and passion of the fellow founders create a truly inspiring environment, where we’re all working together to tackle health equity. The support from the program leaders has been incredible and I’m so excited to connect with our mentors. I feel incredibly honored to be a part of this program. It feels like the perfect springboard to propel our mission forward and make a real difference in the world of healthcare!”
Dr. Victoria Chibuogu Nneji adds, “Having the backing of the Advocate Health, the Lily Foundation. and incredible community partners from Rowan, Cabarrus, and Mecklenburg counties including the cities of Kannapolis and Concord as well as Cabarrus Health Alliance and El Puente Hispano means we are not alone in our belief.”
“We know there are hundreds of locals who painstakingly sustain long-term care for their family and friends to live longer, healthier lives with them so AKALAKA is eager to get to work in delivering more timely, thoughtful, and delightful access to home- & community-based services for this caring community to approach their futures with greater connection, clarity, and confidence,” she continues. “We look forward to the accelerated positive social impact driven by our startup growth during Flywheel Foundation’s Health Equity Innovation Challenge
As the title sponsor of the challenge, Atrium Health – Greater Charlotte North Area is underwriting the operational costs of the Challenge, the accelerator, and the mentoring services for the companies. Additional sponsors include the Eli Lilly and Company Foundation, Cabarrus County, the Cabarrus Economic Development Corporation, and the City of Kannapolis. The Flywheel Foundations is contributing seed grant revenue for the companies.
“The Flywheel Foundation has administered accelerators and innovation challenges for the last nine years,” Jill Atherton continued. “We are very excited about the launch of the second cohort around a very important mission.”
Additional organizations involved in providing research, subject matter expertise, community engagement, and entrepreneurship support include Cabarrus College of Health Sciences, Cabarrus Health Alliance, the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), El Puente Hispano, Racial Equity Cabarrus, Cabarrus Economic Development Corporation, The Chamber – Leading Business in Cabarrus, and the Small Business Center of Rowan Cabarrus Community College.
Eric Alvarez, founder of Grapefruit Health said, “HEIC has been incredible so far. The connections and community we have been exposed to have already provided significant value and we are only 1 week in.”
The year’s selected companies will establish their priorities and performance milestones while in the accelerator program. They will be paired with experts from the participating organizations and the mentor program. They will make their way through a weekly developmental process that includes office hours, cohort meetings, customer discovery and development, and fine-tuning their revenue model and business model.
“We are ecstatic to be in the Health Equity Innovation Challenge, said mPATH Health founder David Miller. “Collaborating with leaders in Atrium Health and Cabarrus County is an amazing opportunity for us to rapidly scale mPATH to communities that often face challenges accessing screening. We are excited to have this opportunity to use mPATH to decrease health disparities.”
“We are looking forward to collaborating and learning alongside other socially-minded entrepreneurs who are committed to improving health for all, he continues.
Each of the companies will be mainstage presenters at ConvergeSouth on October 3–4, 2024, a startup exposition that will be staged at Biotech Place in Winston-Salem. The event typically attracts 500+ attendees over two days including investors from throughout the Southeast. The event is open to the public.
