About
When mission, passion, talent and momentum collide, magic happens.
Jumpstart Nova exists to set a path that the healthcare venture industry can follow.
Our Story
The United States healthcare system is 20% of the US GDP, consuming 4 trillion dollars in spending per year. As an industry, the healthcare system is the largest employer in the country. Every American interacts with the healthcare system at some point in their lives.
The leadership of a system of such import to the country should leverage innovation and stop at nothing to both lower costs and improve patient outcomes.
Venture capital is the platform for the future workflows, therapies, and leaders in US healthcare.
Jumpstart Nova Fund I was founded by Jumpstart Health Investors co-founder, Marcus Whitney, in 2020 in the wake of America’s racial reckoning. Equally as important as the aggregation of capital in Fund I, as Fund I blew past a $30M target, reaching an increased hard cap of $55M, was Kathryne Cooper’s choice to leave her beloved role at The Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics as Co-Director to join Whitney as a Partner at Jumpstart Nova.
We launched as the First Black Healthcare Venture Capital Firm in America, committing to address the chronic underinvestment in Black founders by healthcare venture capital firms. Our Fund I was historic, gaining partnership from the strongest healthcare companies in America, and gathering the largest database of Black founded and led early stage companies in the country.
With Jumpstart Nova Fund II, we build on our foundation and successful general partnership, now expanding our investment remit to all founders. Our performance has elevated us to now be the institutional, strategic seed fund of Jumpstart Health Investors.
Together, Cooper and Whitney’s backgrounds, networks, and areas of expertise make Jumpstart Nova a complete and highly competitive firm to focus on founders building valuable businesses in the healthcare industry, who, when paired with capital, can harness their creative power to maximize their impact on value creation and patient outcomes.
Based in Nashville, Tennessee and Los Angeles, California we bring geographic diversity and experiential diversity to healthcare investing.
We are healthcare startup experts and incredibly connected in the healthcare industry.
We back healthcare founders and deals the typical healthcare fund overlooks.
We partner with our founders, shoulder to shoulder, to build great and impactful healthcare businesses.
Jumpstart Nova Fund II is a seed fund specializing in healthcare startups led by exceptional founders.
Our Criteria
Jumpstart Nova only makes direct investments in Seed and Series A stage companies; however, we partner with Jumpstart Foundry to ensure that pre-seed companies receive the capital and support they need.
We encourage you to apply to Jumpstart Foundry if you are at the pre-seed stage, in addition to connecting with Jumpstart Nova through our process outlined below.
Select companies in the Jumpstart Foundry portfolio receive mentorship from Jumpstart Nova, and we watch them closely for the potential of follow-on investments at the Seed stage.
We are looking for all of the following in our investments:
- Leadership: Exceptional founders in C-level position with a board seat
- Sectors: Health IT, Digital Health, Tech-enabled Services, Consumer Health and Wellness, and Medicaid Services
- Stage: Seed & Series A
- Check size: $250,000 – $4,000,000
- Lead: Yes, not always
- Board seat: Yes, if we lead
- Location: US-based and focused companies
Our Process
We keep our process simple at Jumpstart Nova.
Complete our form.
We will follow up.
We are committed to supporting the healthcare innovation ecosystem. As such, the process is the same for all interested in connecting with us to minimize bias and maximize efficiency. Whether our paths have crossed or we are getting to know you, we look forward to connecting.