One of Nashville’s most active health care investment funds has a new leader.
Haley Zapolski has been named managing director of Jumpstart Foundry, according to a news release.
She replaces Eller Kelliher, who joined investment firm SeedtoB Capital as a partner in April, according to Kelliher's LinkedIn page.
Zapolski brings deep connections in Nashville’s startup scene to her new role at Jumpstart, which invests $150,000 in two cohorts of pre-seed health care startups from around the country each year.
She is the founder of NashTech, a community of entrepreneurs and tech workers focused on building the startup ecosystem in Nashville. Zapolski was most recently manager of employer engagement at the Nashville Software School, where she connected employers with software development and data talent, according to a news release. Prior to that, she managed Renew Nashville, a pandemic recovery program for small businesses through the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
"I've had the chance to work with founders for the past several years, but I'm thrilled to now work on the capital side," Zapolski said in the release. “At the end of the day, Nashville is a health care city and I hope that innovating the industry and building upon what JSF has already done will continue to make an impact.”
Jumpstart was founded eight years ago by Marcus Whitney and Vic Gatto. Previous Jumpstart investments include Nashville-based startups Greenlight Medical, Belle, MusicCityMed, Huso and Satchel.
The fund recently opened applications for its fall 2022 cohort, which could feature as many as 17 new investments in health care startups, according to the release.
“The addition of Haley as the Jumpstart Foundry [managing director] is an exciting milestone for the entire team,” Doug Edwards, CEO of Jumpstart parent company, Jumpstart Health Investors, said in the release. “She has the experience, ambition, and grit to help lead Jumpstart Foundry into its next phase of expansion. I can say with great confidence that adding Haley to the team is going to positively impact not only JSF, but Jumpstart Health Investors as a whole.”
