In 1999, Jessica Thurmond's mother was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer. She died a year later at age 39, unable to access education and other resources that may have prolonged her life.
That was the inspiration behind Thurmond's company, Athelo Health, which aims to improve quality of life outcomes for patients with cancer while also decreasing costs of service through a mobile application.
Athelo came out on top of the 2021 Venture Sharks competition held by Venture Connectors at TEN20 Brewery on Wednesday. Thurmond, and the two other founder finalists, had just five minutes to pitch to a panel of judges including: Dan Beldy, managing director, Airwing Ventures; Paul Ford, managing principal, DS9 Capital; and John Willmoth, founder and managing partner, Poplar Ventures.
"It's not a surprise to anyone here that cancer is really expensive," said Thurmond, who is co-founder and head of clinical development for Athelo. "Athelo is addressing a $20 billion-plus supportive cancer care market, which is embedded within the $183 billion U.S. care market.
"In addition, we're seeing an extreme cost increase... we're expecting 34% rise in the cost of care by the year 2030, which has been spurring the $97 billion digital health industry. Yet of all of the apps that are in development, only 6% of them target cancer patients, with less than 3% citing clinician oversight."
Enter Athelo, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) based digital platform built to be an inclusive, integrated cancer care ecosystem with biometrics and anchored by wearable devices. The application is launching this year in breast and OBGYN cancers in coordination with Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee. And in 2022, Thurmond said Athelo will launch a full-scale, 12-week clinical trial to validate its system.
In addition to Thurmond, Athelo's team includes Monica Schmiede, co-founder and head of business development, and Marq Short, co-founder and chief technology officer.
Athelo won $5,000 from the Venture Sharks event, in addition to one-on-one mentoring from established entrepreneurs and other in-kind services offered by the competition's sponsors.
Other finalists for this year's competition included:
- Grouper, founded by Chris Wiedmar, is a social messaging platform that connects users and creators based on their interests, hobbies and passions.
- HBCU Tour, founded by Nasir Jones, is a subscription-based vendor services platform for current and former students of historically black colleges and universities.
