By Péralte C. Paul
Rimidi Diabetes, a healthcare technology company working extensively with the Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), will receive $50,000 from Village Capital.
Solutions from Our Country’s Entrepreneurs (SOURCE), a partnership between The Hitachi Foundation, Village Capital, and Investors’ Circle, aims to serve as a bridge between investors and entrepreneurs that create solutions to address social issues, particularly those that affect low-income Americans.
Village Capital made the investment in Atlanta-based Rimidi, after a three-month intensive program designed to connect entrepreneurs with investment capital. Rimidi also had the opportunity to meet investors through Investor’ Circle’s local network in Boston.
Rimidi makes software that helps people with diabetes and their doctors manage patients’ blood sugar and better identify potential gaps in treatment regimens.
The company will use the investment to grow its customer base and sales efforts.
Rimidi and another healthcare technology firm, which also will receive $50,000, were both selected by 10 other peer startup firms that participated in the Village Capital/VentureWell three-month program.
“We are thrilled to work with these two companies as they improve access to opportunity for underserved people worldwide through better health outcomes,” Ross Baird, Village Capital’s executive director, said in a statement.
“Diabetes is a disease that affects more than 29 million Americans, including an estimated 12.5 million who are low-income. Rimidi helps people with diabetes live a healthy lifestyle through an engaging user experience.”
All 12 startups had to rate one another on 24 select criteria, including financials, leadership structure, and strength of business model, among other benchmarks.
“This was personally very meaningful to be selected by our peers working together to grow our businesses and to validate the hypotheses on which we have built our companies,” said Dr. Lucienne Ide, Rimidi’s co-founder and chief executive.
“To be selected from a group of very talented companies is great validation of our team and what we are trying to accomplish.”
The two winning startups were selected from the group of 12 following the Village Capital/VentureWell Venture Forum, where they had to present their business plans to angel investors, venture capitalists, potential partners, and customers.
Ide said ATDC’s Industry Connect program, which matches startup companies with Fortune 1000 firms, helped in her team’s efforts to refine and polish their presentation and business plan pitch.
The recognition from Village Capital and the SOURCE partnership is important, she said, because it underscores the value of companies, such as Rimidi, that are attractive to investors who seek financial returns while also making a social impact.
“This whole world of impact investing, it’s tremendously important to us in terms of those investors,” Ide said. “It doesn’t mean you’re not competitive.”