What We've Done - Portfolio

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ABOUT THE COMPANY: Bennufit™ Health, Inc. (“Bennufit™”)  is a digital health company that operates a clinical analytics platform focused on solving the dueling health crises of chronic pain and opioid use disorder (OUD). The platform collects data and delivers reports to clinicians to improve outcomes. By assessing behavioral, lifestyle, environmental, demographic, genetic, wearable, medical device, and laboratory data, Bennufit™ delivers understandable and actionable information to better understand, diagnose, and treat the world’s most prevalent and expensive health condition – unresolved pain. The company is co-founded by Profound Ventures partners. 

WHAT WE DID: We helped found the Company, built a management team, and brought together the strategic partners to launch. 

 FUNDING: Provided $500,000 in seed funding

ABOUT THE COMPANY: IMCS Group ("IMCS") is the leader in biopsychosocial innovation for the workers’ compensation industry. IMCS has a proven transformative approach to injured workers based on evidence-based evaluation and treatment, its credentialed national network of over 1,000 psychologists and psychiatrists across all 50 states, and its technology platform that allows for tele-health and in-person interactions, outcomes analysis, and real-world evidence to expedite return-to-function and work. IMCS clients include many leading employers and workers compensation insurers, and the company is looking to expand into other payer categories.

WHAT WE DID: We invested and dropped in as the "Chief Strategic Officer" for a year to lead the company in transforming its business by introducing telehealth services. We worked closely with the CEO, founder and senior management to design a strategy, training program, and technology platform. We also conducted research on outcomes data and submitted a peer-reviewed publication to support the platform. By doing so, we positioned the company to seize the opportunity with the Covid-19 Pandemic to shift its business from 10% telehealth to 98% telehealth in less than 12 months.

FUNDING: Previously backed by Centripetal Capital Partners of Stamford, CT, this expansion and repositioning of the Company resulted in an $8M Series B round of financing in July 2020 co-led by HLM Venture Partners and .406 Ventures, and continued participation from Hartford Investment Management Co and Centripetal Capital Partners 

ABOUT THE COMPANY: BlueStar SeniorTech ("BSST") makes life better for senior veterans and their families by providing them with what they want: freedom, independence, dignity, and choice. BSST’s mission is to help American seniors age in the comfort of their homes:  safe, healthy, and connected. The company offers a combination of aging-at-home technologies and services to thousands of customers in all 50 states. BlueStar is veteran-owned, and it is certified by the Veterans Administration as a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). 

WHAT WE DID: We serve as a Board Observer and advised the company on the commercial and financing strategy. We recommended changing the commercial model of sending out postcards and moving to an online lead generation model, as well as a healthcare model involving remote patient monitoring. The financing strategy involved "going public"  from direct listing or reverse merger with a Regulation CF or Regulation A financing instrument, as they are not well-suited for a typical angel investment group or venture capital fund. The company was able to bring in a stellar Chief Revenue Officer and get up to $2M in annual revenues and positive EBITDA. They were also able to find a remote patient monitoring partner, and get away from their old commercial model.

 FUNDING: The Company was previously backed by founders and credit line through Driehaus Private Equity of Chicago. The Company has ultimately chosen to go down the pathway recommended by Profound Ventures. They are currently raising a $750,000 round of capital through WeFunder, using the SEC Reg CF (https://wefunder.com/bluestar.seniortech).

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Flint Rehabilitation Devices ("FlintRehab") is an innovator in the at-home rehabilitation medical device and data analytics market. With two FDA-cleared devices , FlintRehab is helping patients recover from stroke - the 5th leading cause of death in America, as well as other neuro-degenerative conditions. FlintRehab spun out of UC Irvine.  Its technology includes the Music Glove, a hand therapy device that is clinically proven to improve hand function in 2 weeks, FitMi, the first home neurorehab device designed for recovery from head to toe, and MiGo platforms.  

WHAT WE DID: We dropped in as a Senior Advisor to the Founders to develop a commercial strategy expansion which resulted in rolling out a remote patient monitoring platform (Tenovi) and pilots with local health systems. 

 FUNDING: Backed by over $8 million in NIH-grant funding.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Tasso Inc. ("Tasso") is a medical device company that developed an "easy button" for blood specimen collection. The Tasso OnDemand kit is packaged with all materials needed to successfully collect a sample at home. The kit easily ships via standard post or specialized couriers, and Tasso can even manage your logistics.  A few pharmaceutical companies have been using the TASSO-M20 OnDemand device across multiple clinical trials, gathering unprecedented amounts of pharmacokinetic data to inform its research and development efforts. The company's Chairman of the Board contacted us and asked us to get involved to help improve their commercial growth, as the company had not realized any real significant revenues.

WHAT WE DID: We invested and dropped in as the "Chief Strategic Officer" for six months to help the co-founders and Board, as well as the company design a commercial strategy going forward which would involve building a network of clinical laboratories and changing the focus from just a medical device to a "platform" around the Tasso Experience.  This strategy allowed the company to then seize the opportunity with the Covid-19 pandemic to work with CLIA-laboratories and hospital laboratories to become a part of laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) and expand revenue. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is using the TASSO-SST OnDemand devices to test for COVID-19 antibodies in serum as part of their study. 

FUNDING: Previously backed by a $6.1 million financing round led by Vertical Venture Partners (“VVP”), with participation from Techstars and Cedars-Sinai, this expansion and innovation resulted in an oversubscribed $17M Series A round in July 2020 led by Hambrecht Ducera Growth Ventures and included participation from Foresite Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, Vertical Venture Partners, Techstars, and Cedars-Sinai.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Fruit Street Health, a Public Benefit Corporation ("Fruit Street") is a telehealth company initially focused on providing the only live-video-based Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) private-company approved by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Fruit Street has employed a unique physician-investor model whereby they directly solicit targeted physicians to become advisors, collaborators, and investors in the business. With over 300 physicians having invested $17M into the business, the Company had completed pilots with Walgreens and Sharecare and was positioned for growth. However, the Company's revenues were still low ($25,000 in monthly recurring revenue (MRR), and so Fruit Street needed some help to deliver an ROI for its investors and shareholders.  With a visionary founder and his charming and talented wife as Chief Marketing Officer, it was an exciting and meaningful challenge to try and address the pandemic's challenges with a company based in Manhattan during quarantine.

WHAT WE DID: We invested and dropped in as Chief Operating Officer for six months to help the senior team improve the operations and position for hyper-growth. We cut costs by 64%, and quadrupled monthly recurring revenue (MRR).  We helped establish a testing protocol for Covid-19, and conducted over 1,000 EUA-approved Covid tests in 60 days, across dozens of sites for a professional sports league, along with telehealth support.  

FUNDING: Fruit Street have previously raised $17 million in funding over 4 years from over 250 clinicians. During our involvement, Fruit Street was able to raise $5 million in funding over 90 days from over 50 physicians.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Neuraura Biotech, Inc. ("Neuraura") is a next-generation unique brain sensor and data platform that is born out of decades of neuroscience research at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, coupled with leading manufacturing practices from the semiconductor industry that

allows illumination of the electrical workings of the brain in a way that has been impossible until now. This platform allows neuromodulation technologies to realize expanded usage through better quality data, analytics, and personalized treatments. Neuraura’s current advantage is its microsensor technology where electrodes have tiny 3 dimensional structures, each one touching 5 neurons, compared to ECOG where each electrode is in contact with roughly 40,000 neurons. Thus, this platform produces data that is 3x cleaner that the current standard, providing 100% seizure detection in clinical trials so far, and detection of high frequency oscillations and bio-markers. The company has research collaborations with Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Melbourne. 

WHAT WE DID: We invested, recruited in a team of neurosurgeons across leading health systems to advice, and served as a member of the Board of Directors where we instituted appropriate corporate governance practices involving policies, creation of Audit and Compensation Committees of the Board, and helped adjust the corporate strategy. We also helped recruit key medical advisors to make introductions to leading medical device manufacturers.

FUNDING: Backed by $3M in funding, 50% of it non-dilutive grant funds, from a range of investors in Alberta, Canada, we led a $150,000 bridge round to fund the large animal study in Australia for a 510(K) class II filing with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Monj, Inc. ("Monj Health") is digital health company at the intersection of acclaimed international cuisines, the tech hub of Silicon Valley and one of nature’s best outdoor playgrounds. The group of chefs, IT professionals, doctors, nutritionists, food lovers and health enthusiasts leading the company is committed to helping people learn new skills and make little discoveries that help them live a joyful, abundant, and delicious life without limits. Monj Health is a digital health company providing remote, telehealth support from Registered Dieticians (RDNs) along with proprietary programs for diabetes, cardiovascular rehabilitation, and other conditions.  Having had over 182,000 patients use portions of its platform, the company is uniquely positioned to hypergrowth in helping patients overcome health conditions where nutrition and mindfulness are critical to healing.  

WHAT WE DID: We served as a Strategic Advisor to the founder and CEO. Helped recruit in the current President of the Company, advised the founder on a restructuring, participated in business development efforts, and helped shape the Clinical Version of the platform that was contracted by Walgreens and other strategic partners.

FUNDING: Backed by $7M in funding from various angels.

ABOUT THE COMPANY: Innovation Crowds, Inc. ("IC") is "crowdsourcing" company for social entrepreneurs to recruit advisors, collaborators, and potentially accredited investors to support their social impact start-up companies. Founded by a Stanford University student who served as a Venture Fellow with Profound Ventures, IC aims to be a partner for promising, mission-oriented start-ups.

WHAT WE DID: Building on the "Army of Innovators" that Profound routinely recruits to support its portfolio, we supported and helped co-found a new company that provide this service to entrepreneurs across the globe.

FUNDING: Backed by seed funding from Profound Ventures