A Prior Lake-based health tech startup that digitizes advance care planning has been selected for Northwestern Mutual’s newest cohort of its Black Founder Accelerator program.
UzObi Inc., led by CEO and co-founder Nneka Sederstrom, is one of five startups from across the country selected for the latest cohort, according to an announcement by the Milwaukee-based financial services firm, which runs the program in partnership with Gener8tor, a venture capital fund and startup accelerator.
Launched early last month, UzObi is a virtual clinical platform allowing ethicists to help patients in their advance care planning, such as for end-of-life decisions, and provide tele-ethics consultation, the company said in a press release when it launched. It provides this service by creating health care directives for patients through its platform, its website shows.
The service allows “people to put their values back into the center of the conversation through our digitized medical decision-making tool," Sederstrom told the Business Journal. “It's using that tool to have conversations with clinicians that we're hoping will change the way health care is practiced and the outcomes for patients, ensuring that their values are at the core; instead of things being done to them, it's actually things being done with them.”
As part of the accelerator program, which kicked off earlier this month, UzObi and the other cohort companies receive an investment of $100,000, go through a 12-week business training program that takes place online and in-person, are given access to individuals in venture capital and receive coaching from insurance and finance professionals, according to Northwestern Mutual’s announcement.
The program is intended to provide resources and funding to promising Black entrepreneurs, with 20 businesses nationwide having gone through the accelerator so far. The initiative was created to help close the racial wealth gap, the announcement said.
“Northwestern Mutual’s Black Founder Accelerator is designed to tackle the pronounced racial funding gap by giving Black entrepreneurs greater access to venture capital and opportunity,” Abim Kolawole, vice president of financial planning excellence and strategy at Northwestern Mutual, said in the announcement. “We are proud to support the growth and resilience of Black-founded startups and nurture the positive impact these entrepreneurs will have on future generations.”
Other startups in the newest cohort include founders from Atlanta, Chicago, Houston and Milwaukee, with focus areas like fintech, insurance tech, digital health and data analytics, the announcement said.
“(It) feels wonderful to be part of a cohort of other Black entrepreneurs and Black founders that are being celebrated in this very meaningful way,” Sederstrom said. “Northwestern Mutual and Gener8tor have put their money where their mouth is in trying to address inequities in entrepreneurship and (in) how the balance of the scales are in this country.”
In addition to participating in the accelerator program, Sederstrom said going forward, the company is looking to develop its business relationships, grow its customer base and gain greater traction. The company is also working to add customized requests from organizations to its list of directives. The company is currently in a pre-seed fundraising round, which Sederstrom seeks to close by the beginning of 2023.
UzObi currently has seven employees, including Sederstrom, who is the only full-time employee, she said.
