KC’s SaRA Health tapping cross-country, international resources for startup’s acceleration

Techstars Kansas City graduate, SaRa Health is cutting through the noise of the San Diego startup scene, already shining bright among the healthtech mecca’s competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem, CEO Steven Coen said proudly.

The metro-grown company recently joined the Nex Cubed Digital Healthcare accelerator — a semi-remote program that promises to drive commercial exposure and prepare founders to raise capital.

SaRA Health saves employers money by improving the recovery process for their employees through their technology, SaRA: the Simplifying Recovery Assistant.

“We’ve added a couple people to our team,” Coen said of his experience in the program, which officially launched its Spring 2019 cohort in February.

Aimed at improving patient outcomes, Coen developed SaRA — a digital wellness assistant, that enables patients to better recover from physical injuries by prompting them to complete at-home exercises, which greatly enhances recovery time, he explained.

Click here to sign up for the SaRA Health beta test.

A subsequent mark of good health for the company, since the Nex Cubed cohort launched, SaRA Health has signed a letter of intent with a prominent Kansas City suburb, Coen revealed.

The partnership will see the company’s services used by the city’s entire employee base.

“We figured out that the municipalities are our target,” Coen said. “We actually have 56 cities that are within our very narrow, niche market right now that we’re going after. And that was partly from the Nex Cubed folks, allowing us to really drill into that, and figure out what we would need to look at to be able to say, OK, perfect. This customer type is exactly what we need to go after.’”

Over the course of 16 weeks, Coen and his team are benefiting from access to mentors in healthcare and business development, pushing SaRA Health into the next phase of its life, beyond Techstars Kansas City — the accelerator program that helped the company overcome a variety of technical challenges and rebuild their application from the ground up, Coen explained.

“Lesa [Mitchell, managing director of Techstars Kansas City] continues to support us after … in a way that I think is truly unique to her and her dedication to founders,” he said of the experience, further complimenting Mitchell’s leadership and the skillset of her team.  

Additionally, Techstars Kansas City opened the door to a partnership between SaRA Health and Kansas City’s Bardavon Health Innovations.
One accelerator down and half of another to go, programs aren’t the only momentum-makers in the SaRA Health pipeline, Coen revealed.

The company is vying for a chance to compete in Get in the Ring — a global pitch competition in its sixth year, which whittles down a pool of 125 potential contestants by public vote.

“I know this community pretty well and I know we can get it done,” Coen said of his confidence SaRA Health can secure the votes necessary to advance in the competition.

Support a startup! Click here to vote for SaRA Health before voting closes on April 30.

Eight startups will travel to Berlin in June to face off in the competition during the Get in the Ring Foundation’s Global Meetup.

Additionally, SaRA Health will strike up traction like musicians play jazz in New Orleans next month, Coen added.

The startup will take part in the 2019 Certent Summit — an inaugural, day-long innovators event that gives startups the chance to pitch for cash.

“We’re really excited for [Certent Summit] — especially riding off this recent wave of traction.”

With no shortage of opportunities to advance the mission of SaRA Health in sight, Coen can’t help but express his gratitude for the support he’s received, he said.

“First of all, Bardavon — fantastic, right? Matt Condon [CEO] and Paul Morris [COO], that crew has been really helpful to us when quite honestly, they didn’t have to be. … Techstars Kansas City with Lesa Mitchell, especially. She is a warrior for us,” Coen said in recognition of key influences in his entrepreneurial journey.

“The overall founder support that’s growing through KC Collective, StartupKC, some of these other groups — you’re starting to see more excitement around the startup community … which has been really exciting,” he added.

Such support has re-upped the entrepreneurs motivation to revamp the pain management space, allowing him to dream big and work toward realizing a future where SaRA Health solves crippling problems in the healthcare space, he said.