SaaS: Affirm Health startup preps for Seed capital raise

Milt Capps updated


SaaS: Affirm Health startup preps for Seed capital raise | Mitch Evans, Affirm Health, opioids,pharmaceuticals, prescription abuse, John Cole, Josh Wingstrom, Keith Hollaway, East Five, Centers for Disease Control, Jumpstart Foundry, Health Further, NC2 Media, PastRX, Appriss, Prescription Advisory Systems and Technologies,

Updated 12 January 2018: The company reported raising about $169K in equity capital. 29 March 2017: AffirmHealth reported raising $150K.-Ed.

JUMPSTART Foundry portfolio company AffirmHealth is near the launch of a Seed capital raise, a new website and a go-to-market push for its software that helps monitor abuse of prescription drugs and produces actionable intelligence to guide physicians practices' responses to patterns of abuse.

Founder-CEO Mitch Evans, 31, told Venture Nashville that a target for the Seed round is still a live ball, and pre-round discussions with investors continue. A months-old pilot run is nearing its completion and the new AffirmHealth website launch is imminent.

Mitch Evans

Evans said the company's immediate direct-sales priority calls for targeting smaller physicians practices as AffirmHealth rolls-out, while keeping an eye peeled for opportunities that emerge among larger practices and hospitals or systems.

Evans acknowledged that, particularly with attention on opioid abuse, a great deal of strategic and startup attention is focused on the prescription-abuse problem.

Only Evans and Co-founder and COO John Cole, 26, are full-timers in the startup. Both founders hold MBAs from Owen GSM at Vanderbilt University. As a result of going through the class just-ending at Jumpstart Foundry, Affirm Health's legal counsel is Chris Sloan of Baker Donelson.

The company's strategic technology partnership is with East Five, a tech company led President Josh Wingstrom and Keith Holloway, both formerly of NC2Media in Franklin.

As evidence of a ready market for Affirm's offering, Evans noted there are 49 States in the U.S. that have drug monitoring programs underway. A related Centers for Disease Control resource is here.

Vanderbilt began an innovative approach to the Opioid problem in 2005, reported here. In June this year, Vanderbilt researchers contributed to a report calling for more investment in prescription-drug monitoring, right here.

Evans declined to cite particular current or logical future competitors. Venture Nashville research suggests that current early-stage entrants could include Appriss (an acquirer based in nearby Louisville) and Pennsylvania-based Prescription Advisory Systems and Technology (PASTrx), among others.

Evans' team received $150K equity investment from Jumpstart Foundry and they and other portfolio companies will be spotlighted at Health:Further. Related story today on Jumpstart here. VNC

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