Latest Prosper Healthtech Alabama cohort includes four startups shaping the future of value-based care
Four emerging healthcare startups will each receive $90,000 investments as part of Birmingham’s Prosper Healthtech Accelerator. This is the seventh cohort selected to take part in the four-year-old program, which is powered by nationally ranked accelerator platform gener8tor.
The companies chosen for the new cohort represent a strategic focus on the ongoing shift of the healthcare industry toward prevention and value-based care, a framework that emphasizes provider performance and the patient experience. Each of the companies is relocating to Birmingham while taking part in the program, said Kellie Clark, managing director of the Prosper Healthtech Accelerator.
Kellie Clark, managing director, Prosper Healthtech Accelerator. (Contributed)
“These four companies are at the forefront of healthcare’s most significant economic transformation in a generation,” Clark said. “As the industry pivots from fee-for-service to value-based care, these solutions are positioning themselves exactly where tomorrow’s healthcare dollars will flow – toward prevention, personalization and precision care.”
The companies selected are:
aloeVR, which creates trauma-informed virtual reality experiences that help children build emotional resistance and manage stress through play-based therapy.
Ashmi Health, which delivers personalized nutrition guidance for hormonal health, starting with gestational diabetes and expanding to other conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and perimenopause.
CLEO Education, which provides an online platform for healthcare students to practice diagnostic skills in a low-stakes environment before treating real patients.
Profunda Health, which addresses the lifelong effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) through a precision care platform that combines behavioral screening, care navigation and biomarker insights.
The companies were selected for their innovative approaches to some of the most pressing challenges in the evolving healthcare business, said J.W. Carpenter, president of Prosper Birmingham, which works to build an inclusive and thriving economy in Birmingham and Jefferson County.
J.W. Carpenter, president of Prosper Birmingham. (Contributed)
“What makes this cohort particularly exciting is the strategic positioning of these companies at the intersection of technology and impact,” Carpenter said. “Each is creating solutions that will thrive in healthcare’s new economic reality and also solve problems experienced by so many Alabamians.”
The Prosper Healthtech Accelerator is made possible with support from Encompass, Coca Cola Bottling United, First Horizon, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and UAB Medicine. The 12-week, cohort-based program includes intensive mentorship, one-on-one coaching, more than $1 million in deals and perks, and access to gener8tor’s network of mentors and investors. To date, eight companies from previous cohorts have relocated to Birmingham, and the accelerator continues to be a significant contributor to local economic growth and the emergence of the Birmingham region as a hub for healthcare technology.