Food fit: Kansas City health startup attains Endeavor Heartland greenlight at first KC selection panel
March 9, 2024 | Taylor Wilmore
Moving forward in the process to become an Endeavor Entrepreneur builds on 18 months of momentum for the newly branded Attane Health, said founder Emily Brown.
Her Kansas City-based, food- and nutrition-focused startup moved one step closer to the Endeavor designation — a move that ultimately would elevate Attane Health on a global scale — Wednesday at Endeavor’s Heartland’s first regional selection panel in Kansas City.
Click here to read more about Endeavor Heartland and its effort to bring global capital to select Kansas City startups.
“This is an exciting time for Attane Health,” said Brown.
In the past 30 days, the company — formerly known as Free From Market — successfully obtained two Medicaid contracts, propelling them forward in the digital health space.
Attane Health’s personalized platform provides inclusive access to personalized, nutritious groceries and educational resources for those living with chronic health conditions.
“We believe Medicaid is really right for food and nutrition care interventions,” said Brown. “We know that access to healthy food plays a critical role for health, and the impacts of that are not distributed equally with individuals that are food insecure.”
With one in three Americans dealing with a chronic condition where food is part of their standard of care, Attane Health solves this problem for their healthcare partners by delivering nutrient-dense food to their customers.
“We deliver it directly to their door, eliminating those barriers of transportation which are common in the population we serve,” said Brown, noting Attane Health serves patients for both maternal health and Type 2 diabetes.
One step closer
For a startup founder to advance in the process of becoming an Endeavor Entrepreneur, they must first face a panel from Endeavor’s network who interview entrepreneur candidates, assessing their growth potential. Unanimous panel votes decide candidates advancing to the final step, the International Selection Panel (ISP). Those chosen at ISP become Endeavor Entrepreneurs.
Emily Brown, Attane Health
RELATED: Endeavor Heartland’s launch aims to put founders in the right place at the right time
Entrepreneurs selected for Endeavor are considered to have achieved product-market fit and stand at a pivotal point in their growth journey, typically with annual revenues ranging from $500,000 to $10 million.
Brown successfully presented Attane to a selection panel during Wednesday’s intimate Endeavor Heartland gathering, advancing in the process.
“I’m very aware that only 2 percent of venture capital funding goes to women and less than 1 percent of Black women,” said Brown. “So I recognize in some ways, I’m kind of a unicorn. I try to be as visible as I can and give back so that others can see that this is a path that they could go down too.”
Two other Midwest companies also participated in the regional selection panel: Volt, a Tulsa-based startup facilitating global customer connections via SMS and tailored analytics; and Lenexa-based Transportant from Lenexa,focusing on student safety technology for buses.
Emily Brown, Attane Health, speaks Sept. 22 at H&R Block during Back2KC; photo by Nikki Overfelt Chifalu, Startland News
Changing lifestyles
Brown’s entrepreneurial journey began with a mission to ensure access to specialized dietary food.
“For me, it all starts with lived experience,” she said, pulling from a deeply personal connection to the healthcare system because of her daughters’ chronic conditions.
“I saw the rise of social determinants of health and health-related social needs and how that was transforming health care, and thought, we need to have individuals building the technology solutions who actually understand the problem,” she said.
Attane Health goes beyond just providing access to food. The platform provides personalized coaching programs for sustainable lifestyle changes, featuring a curated marketplace of more than 900 healthy products and certified health coach support.
Brown advocates for empowering users with choice, offering a user-friendly platform where consumers can customize their diet based on their needs using subsidies from health plans or partners, rather than rigidly prescribed dietary products.
“It’s really about supporting those members as they come onto the platform and making it easy to select the foods they need and want for not only their health care needs, but also their cultural connectedness to food,” said Brown.
As Attane Health continues to evolve, Brown remains steadfast in her commitment to leveraging entrepreneurship as a force for positive changes in others lifestyles.
“Attane Health is not just about delivering food; it’s about driving meaningful health outcomes and empowering individuals to lead healthier lives,” she said.
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Taylor Wilmore
Taylor Wilmore, hailing from Lee’s Summit, is a dedicated reporter and a recent graduate of the University of Missouri, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Journalism. Taylor channels her deep-seated passion for writing and storytelling to create compelling narratives that shed light on the diverse residents of Kansas City.
Prior to her role at Startland News, Taylor made valuable contributions as a reporter for the Columbia Missourian newspaper, where she covered a wide range of community news and higher education stories.
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