This story is part of our Inno on the Road series, looking at the tech and startup scene in Minneapolis-St.Paul, Minn. You can see all Twin Cities tech stories here, and other Inno on the Road series here.
Jeffrey Blank is the managing director of TreeHouse Health, a Minneapolis healthcare innovation hub that supports emerging startups through investment, expertise and connections to industry.
The greater Minneapolis and St. Paul area has a unique and storied history of impactful healthcare innovations that dates back generations. On a regional and national level, we are largely known for medical device innovations starting with the founding of Medtronic and the hotbed of talent and innovation it has fostered over the years.
However, the breadth of healthcare innovation in the Twin Cities extends far beyond medical device. More recent examples of Twin Cities bred innovations include the company that invented Consumer Driven Health Plans, Definity Health, and MinuteClinic, who reinvented the retail clinic. We are also home to the first health plan known as a “Blue Cross” plan in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota as well as the nation’s largest health insurer in UnitedHealth Group. We are also just a short drive away from the Mayo Clinic.
The combination of past success, as well as the presence of industry leaders and the talent they attract has led to the development of an incredible talent pool. This, when you factor in a relatively low cost of living and an emerging tech scene, make Minneapolis/St. Paul a great place for emerging healthcare companies. We wouldn’t want to be doing what we are in any other market.
After previously taking a more passive approach to early-stage healthcare investing in both our local market and across the country, we started TreeHouse Health a little more than three years ago. Our goal is to provide an infrastructure and support system for the companies we invest in, and to leverage our ecosystem to facilitate and complement the innovation goals of the industry players we are partnered with. Given the complexities of the industry and the challenges for large companies in regards to internal innovation, our intent is to combine the benefits of having deep industry expertise with the mindset, edge and speed of start-ups.
So far, the model is working. We have 13 portfolio companies and relationships with Blue Cross Blue Shield Minnesota, Accenture, and Hennepin County Medical Center. This has resulted in numerous pilot opportunities, customer relationships and many other forms of collaboration between the organizations. As the industry continues to evolve, we expect that a new wave of innovative Twin Cities start-ups will help lead the way, and we hope to play a part.
