InStep, a digital health venture that aims to transform consumers’ movement data into personalized health analytics, has just won the inaugural IMD Venture Award. The startup led by cofounders Dr Alexandra Hammerberg and Brandon Taft plans to establish itself in Switzerland and move fast once it has settled the administrative issues.
The brainchild of Brandon Taft, an American from the MBA Class of 2022, InStep is a digital health app that aims to improve the accessibility, representation, and convenience of healthcare. The winning team will receive financial support and mentorship over the course of one year to help implement its vision.
As the enthusiastic winner explains to Startupticker.ch, InStep is a digital health app that improves the accessibility, representation, and convenience of healthcare by transforming consumer's personal movement data into personalized health analytics. The team's diverse backgrounds in human biomechanics, strategic development, and AI are foundational to building what it envisions as the next evolution of healthcare. In the coming months, the team is looking forward to establishing itself in Switzerland and working toward launching its MVP.
InStep was selected from three finalists by a jury in Silicon Valley comprising IMD alumnus and serial entrepreneur Thierry Maupilé, IMD professors Jim Pulcrano and Benoît Leleux, IMD alumnus and Venture Capitalist Olivier Laplace, and Kevin Linker, Managing Partner at Raine Next Gen Communications. “I am honored to receive IMD’s inaugural MBA Venture Award,” said Taft, who worked as an account manager at tech startups before coming to IMD. “It has been a privilege to work with Jim, Thierry, Olivier, and Kevin through this process, and I am extremely proud to have stood alongside all my classmates who participated in the competition. Our team at InStep is excited for the year ahead!”
Funding & support for winner InStep
As winners, Taft and the InStep team will receive a financial grant of 100,000 Swiss francs as well as mentorship from Maupilé, Pulcrano and Leleux and an IMD-backed loan of 100,000 Swiss francs. In addition, Fondation Inartis, a non-profit that aims to promote innovation in the tech and life science fields, has offered additional optional benefits including up to 10 desks in one of their open spaces, rent free, for one year. Other benefits offered by the Canton of Vaud through its Innovaud agency include the option of additional funding and interest-free loans, training grants for tech employees, free coaching, support for work permit applications, and support to participate in tech events, provided the company meets certain conditions.
Nine projects were submitted by 11 members of the 2022 MBA Class for this year’s award. Among the finalists were “Tribe” by Fabrizio Guadagnolo and Geoffroy Dehen, which aimed to revolutionize the ticketing of events through the use of NFT technology, and “Oasis” by Amogh Sharma, an eco-friendly technology that uses an innovative heat recovery system to produce fresh water from air.
(ES)
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