The Launch Place is an entrepreneurship development organization with the purpose to plan, fund, launch and grow companies in the IT, software, advanced manufacturing and medical device industries. We help companies to get started or to expand their operations by providing business consulting services, office space, residential and office rent subsidies, and by potentially investing in them through our two investment funds.

The Launch Place

A group of accredited investors who invest their own individual capital, seek seed and early stage investments, primarily in the North Carolina region.

RTP Capital Associates

Techstars is a global platform that provides investment and innovation. Through the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network, founders and their teams connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners who will help their companies grow. Techstars operates four divisions: Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Program supercharges success and Techstars Startup Programs inspire, educate, and connect entrepreneurs. Techstars Venture Capital Fund invests in innovative and disruptive companies. Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships help brands create products and services. Techstars' accelerator portfolio includes more than 1,000 companies with a market cap of $8.1 billion.

Techstars

Geekdom Fund is a venture capital fund that invests in early-stage tech startups. Its partners are in the trenches with their companies. From weekly calls to biannual deep dives, Geekdom Fund looks for ways to help out its portfolio companies whether it is pitch meetings, talent referrals, or grant writings. The firm was founded in 2014 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

Geekdom Fund

Elevate Capital is a seed and early-stage investment firm with a primary focus in the Pacific Northwest and investing in under-represented founders. Elevate proudly maintains a 50/50 male/female founder split among its invested portfolio and has 100% of its investments where at least one co-founder is from a minority group (East Indian, Veterans, East Asian, African American, Latino, and etc.).

Elevate Capital

Lontra Ventures is a boutique consulting, advisory and seed stage investment firm dedicated to improving the performance of life science and technology companies. The firm was founded in 2008 and is based in Austin, Texas.

Lontra Ventures

They invest at the earliest stages in companies working to increase human wellbeing, expand economic opportunity and improve the public sphere.

PurposeBuilt Ventures

Front Porch Properties is a property investment firm for selling and renting homes in Phoenix.

Front Porch Properties

Triangle Tweener Fund seeks to create an index of private company investments in their early stages. Its goal is to create an index of Triangle-area early-stage, high-tech startups that meet the 'Tweener List' Criteria.

Triangle Tweener Fund

VitalFlo

VitalFlo is a digital health company focused on helping doctors keep their asthmatic patients out of the ER. We do this by remotely monitoring patient lung function and the air quality around them for potential asthma attack triggers, and leveraging this dataset to develop predictive health analytics and forecasts. VitalFlo is redefining the standard of care for asthma management by providing actionable recommendations to patients when they need it most: before they have an asthma attack.

VitalFlo’s platform was founded in 2017 in collaboration with UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. The platform connects healthcare providers and clinical researchers with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Additionally, it gathers important clinical data to provide in-home monitoring through a smart spirometer and mobile app.

More important now than ever, telehealth will long outlast the pandemic that drove its growth.

Telehealth

Raleigh digital health startup VitalFlo teams with Allergy & Asthma Network for new service

VitalFlo’s platform was founded in 2017 in collaboration with UNC Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. The platform connects healthcare providers and clinical researchers with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. Additionally, it gathers important clinical data to provide in-home monitoring through a smart spirometer and mobile app.The company commercially launched in 2020 and recorded a patient base growth of 17x over the 12 months ending July 2021.

Nice healthcare is a virtual and in-home primary care provider that offers a suite of healthcare services to small and medium-sized businesses, including primary care, mental health therapy, and physical therapy. Nice healthcare operates on a fixed monthly fee per member model, allowing employees to access unlimited care without additional out-of-pocket costs. The company provides virtual consultations through its app, as well as in-home visits for physical exams, lab tests, and X-rays.&nbsp;As of <a href="https://www.nice.healthcare/locations">August 2024</a>, Nice Healthcare was operating in 12 states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. The company's services covered <a href="https://www.nice.healthcare/the-nicessities/three-categories-of-primary-care#:~:text=Only%204%25%20of%20our%20patients,with%20Nice%20may%20look%20like.">over 95%</a> of issues patients typically discuss with their clinicians, with <a href="https://www.nice.healthcare/the-nicessities/three-categories-of-primary-care#:~:text=Only%204%25%20of%20our%20patients,with%20Nice%20may%20look%20like.">only 4%</a> of patients being referred to external specialists. The company employs nurse practitioners, registered nurses, physician assistants, and medical assistants to deliver care.As of <a href="https://www.nice.healthcare/the-nicessities/three-categories-of-primary-care">August 2024</a>, Nice healthcare offered 35 free labs and physical tests as well as in-home imaging services and prescribed over 550 free medications that could be picked up at over 60,000 pharmacies nationwide or delivered to patients' homes.&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsIn <a href="https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/getlabs-and-nice-healthcare-partner-to-expand-access-to-virtual-healthcare-services-and-at-home-lab-testing-301813668.html">May 2023</a>, Nice Healthcare announced a partnership with Getlabs, a provider of at-home diagnostic collections. This collaboration aimed to expand access to in-home healthcare services and lab testing, allowing Nice healthcare patients to benefit from a more comprehensive suite of diagnostic tests.

Nice Healthcare

Amicomed is a cloud-based Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform which provides blood pressure monitoring services. It collects blood pressure data of patients from at-home devices, applies algorithms, and assesses the fluctuations in the blood pressure. Physicians can be connected and provided with blood pressure data of their patients in order to facilitate their workload, enabling more personalized management of patients regarding medication and lifestyle indications.Amicomed can also recommend actionable and personalized lifestyle interventions such as daily diet and exercises via virtual coaching.

Amicomed

Winston is a men’s health telemedicine platform that treats common issues impacting men such as sexual problems, hair loss, acne, and cold sores. Winston allows patients to consult doctors, place orders for prescription drugs, and offers free delivery to the homes of patients.The Toronto-based company aims to avoid men deferring doctor visits or withholding sensitive information. The consultation fee is covered by the provincial health plan, but the prescriptions are billed to the customer.

Winston

Dialogue is a leading virtual care and well-being platform that provides comprehensive health services to organizations and their employees. Founded in 2016, the company offers an integrated health platform that centralizes various health and wellness programs in a single application, accessible <a href="https://www.dialogue.co/en/blog/dialogues-2023-year-in-review#:~:text=Serving%2015%25%20of%20the%20Canadian%20population&amp;text=How%3F,aspects%20of%20their%20well%2Dbeing.">24/7/365</a>. Dialogue's services include primary care, mental health support, employee assistance programs, and wellness initiatives. As of <a href="https://www.dialogue.co/en/blog/dialogues-2023-year-in-review#:~:text=Serving%2015%25%20of%20the%20Canadian%20population&amp;text=How%3F,aspects%20of%20their%20well%2Dbeing.">December 2023</a>, Dialogue's platform was accessible to around 6 million Canadians, representing approximately 15% of the country's population.The company saw significant growth in <a href="https://www.dialogue.co/en/blog/dialogues-2023-year-in-review#:~:text=Serving%2015%25%20of%20the%20Canadian%20population&amp;text=How%3F,aspects%20of%20their%20well%2Dbeing.">December 2023</a>, with a 34% increase in consultations across all aspects of well-being in 2023 compared to the previous year. Mental health consultations, in particular, saw a 67% increase.&nbsp;In <a href="https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/dialogue-enters-into-license-agreement-with-sun-life-u-s--824463104.html">July 2023</a>, Dialogue was acquired by Sun Life for an undisclosed sum, expanding its reach beyond Canada. This expanded service reach was estimated to cover an additional 600,000 members in the US. The acquisition was completed in <a href="https://www.sunlife.com/en/newsroom/news-releases/announcement/sun-life-completes-the-acquisition-of-dialogue-canadas-premier-health-and-wellness-virtual-care-platform/123792/">October 2023</a>, with Dialogue continuing to operate as a standalone entity.Key customers and partnershipsThe company has partnerships with major insurers and benefits providers to offer its services as part of employee benefits packages. Additionally, the company noted that, as of <a href="https://www.dialogue.co/en/pricing">August 2024</a>, it worked with over 50,000 companies across Canada to provide its services to employees.

Dialogue

Grin offers telemedicine and remote monitoring services for orthodontic needs such as braces and teeth straightening. Patients can conduct self-scans (using a Grin device made available to patients in collaboration with 3M) which can be connected to their smartphones and share the feed with orthodontists to access dental solutions. The company plans to go to a subscription-based model after the pandemic. The app also encourages patients to have a 40-second check monthly and share the scan with a dentist in order to allow patients to regularly maintain their dental hygiene.Grin is the only Telehealth disruptor covered on the hub that provides virtual orthopaedic consultations.Funding and financialsIn April 2021, the New York-based teledental platform concluded a seed funding of USD 14 million, and the funds will be allocated to develop additional functionalities by building out its technology. The proceeds will also be used to scale up its team, expand its geographic footprint, and add doctors to the company’s orthodontic partner network.

Grin

Real-time collection of patients’ health-related data using any remote patient monitoring device combined with general telemedicine services to reduce readmission rates.

A platform that facilitates the transmission of patient data to different locations for further evaluation and interpretation by medical specialists.

A digital platform that offers specialty care services to address the specific needs of a patient or demographic, including consultations where patients are generally reluctant to meet practitioners face-to-face.

Primary care through virtual consultations for general health-related concerns using a digital platform or mobile app.

Companies developing B2B software solutions for patient engagement, care navigation, practice management, and electronic health records integration to facilitate telehealth services for healthcare providers.

Companies that use GenAI as a core part of their product offering for Telehealth

IoT is used by most telehealth providers to operate virtual services

All telehealth players are involved in digital health via virtual offerings

Industry players offer varying degrees of personalization for each target audience

Some players offer technology and platforms to healthcare providers, converting physical-only services into virtual services

Specific telehealth offerings focus on diversity and inclusion, providing care to LGBTQ+ or BIPOC populations

Generative AI is used to streamline administrative tasks such as clinical note-taking

VitalFlo

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