RiskAverse: Early Detection and Prevention of Chronic Diseases

Boston-based RiskAverse is creating an on-demand lifestyle platform that will help many people prevent serious diseases.

Problem

Roughly 40 percent of all cancers and 80 percent of all other chronic illnesses are preventable by maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Even with that knowledge, the disease rate in America continues to rise. Without an early detection platform, most diseases can only be accurately diagnosed at later stages, leading to increased medical costs and decreased survival rates. In a period of time where the focus on personalized wellness is at an all-time high, a platform that is easily accessible and customizable is needed to streamline the disease prevention process.

What The Company Does

With the help of a biostatistician and their medical advisory board, RiskAverse has developed an algorithm that generates a digital risk score to determine how at risk someone is of developing certain diseases. Using this information, the platform then creates engaging, 5-minute assessments that anyone can take from the comfort of their own home. Based on their responses, the data-driven platform provides targeted recommendations that help improve the user’s quality of life, while reducing the risk of disease. These recommendations are designed to be simple, non-disruptive tasks like adding more yogurt to the user’s diet or drinking green tea. The team has found that simple lifestyle changes are more likely to stick than traditional recommendations which require more of an “overhaul” approach. The platform will then automatically reinforce the user’s goals by way of push notifications and text message engagements to help the formation of a new, healthy habit.

Traction

RiskAverse has just finished a 12-week program in the Soaring Startup Circle (SSC) Summer Accelerator, a Boston College Alumni-ran accelerator and venture fund. Over the past week, they have officially launched the beta-version of their platform; and are in the beginning stages of forming partnerships with other healthcare-related companies.

Founding Team Background

RiskAverse was founded by Michael Lloyd and Kaushik Viswanathan, who met as fellow biology majors at Boston College. Together, the team has acquired numerous years of experience in cancer-research and physical therapy while working at institutes like BU and Dana Farber. In the past year, the team has surrounded themselves with a top-notch medical advisory board, most of whom are doctors at MGH, Montefiore and Dana Farber.

What They Need Help With

The team is currently in the early-stages of raising a pre-seed round and continues to have intro talks with early-stage business enterprises. They are looking for intros to startups with similar missions and any micro-VCs. If interested, please contact Michael Lloyd at mike@riskaversehealth.com.

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