This story initially appeared on Black Enterprise
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This entrepreneur builds her platform with variety in thoughts.
Doctor Ami Kumordzie created a fintech platform with no expertise and a mission to attach shoppers with IRS-compliant retailers and urged folks to put money into enhancing their well being.
In response to Forbes, after observing the deficiencies within the healthcare system whereas finding out at Stanford College Faculty of Medication, the CEO of Sika Well being determined towards residency coaching and as a substitute pursued her MBA.
“My first job was as a enterprise guide for healthcare shoppers at BCG,” she mentioned, including that the analytical place helped her establish the hole available in the market.
Kumordzie was impressed to start out Sika Well being after her mom was laid off from her resort job through the pandemic.
“Although I’ve labored in healthcare my total profession, I needed to push myself and virtually turn into a tax knowledgeable to determine how they do it [my mother] may spend these funds earlier than she would lose them,” she mentioned.
“Roughly 70 million People are enrolled in FSA or HSA accounts and contribute roughly $150 billion yearly,” Kumordzie mentioned, citing the massive losses shoppers undergo by forgoing their FSA advantages.
“This can be a actual tragedy as a result of it is cash that folks may have invested in enhancing their well being,” Kumordzie mentioned.
“We want extra methods to avoid wasting and instruments to maximise our greenbacks,” she mentioned. “[Using FSA and HSA dollars] successfully means you might be shopping for healthcare at 30% off the price.”
Kumordzie raised $6.2 million within the preliminary section of the funding.
“The objective was to lift $500,000,” she mentioned. “Inside a number of weeks, I surpassed my objective and raised $1.2 million.” Kumordzie later raised $5 million throughout a seed funding spherical led by Forerunner Ventures consultant Brian O’Malley.
“Having a model like Forerunner as one among our supporters makes an enormous distinction if you’re making an attempt to rent staff,” Kumordzie mentioned. “It makes a world of distinction if you’re interviewing and making an attempt to persuade somebody to go away their high-paying regular job to take an opportunity on an early-stage firm.”
Kumordzie attributes her non-traditional background to her success in attracting enterprise capitalists.
The fintech founder wished to have the ability to rent nice tech consultants, and finally Sika Well being was in a position to rent the founding engineer of the funds crew at Etsy.
“Sika is dedicated to making sure prospects can simply entry their HSA/FSA funds and spend them on objects they need, when they need,” the website wrote.