Cedar Rapids, IA | March 19, 2024 - Novy, a Midwest venture studio focused on building healthcare software companies across the U.S., enters a new stage of go-to-market with the addition of two industry hires and a push for startup idea applications.

The Iowa-based venture studio launched in November of 2023, making Novy the first of its kind in the state. For those unfamiliar, what sets venture studios apart from incubators, accelerators, and VCs is the high level of strategic involvement and hands-on, day-to-to-day support poured into a startup from day one. 

“Rather than solely focusing on capital investment with no proactive mentorship, or ongoing guidance with no funding, venture studios provide both,” said Eric Engelmann, Founding Partner at Novy. “The proven methodologies venture studios utilize have been shown to increase startup success rates from 10% to an impressive 60%.”

Novy, meaning ‘New’ in Czech, was designed to partner with founders from ideation through Series A by co-founding, funding, and growing their companies over the course of 18-24 months. They have a six stage process each portfolio company will follow designed to optimize business formation across ideation, validation, creation, growth, spinout, and successful exit.

This month, Novy added two more industry experts to their core team - a Process Leader, Sarah Wallace, and a VP of Marketing, Jess Greiner. Wallace previously worked for Google, Ask.com, and Midwest startup, Boardable, where she gained deep expertise in tackling operational challenges software companies face. Prior to joining Novy, Greiner held leadership roles across marketing, sales, and HR within technology and healthcare at LightEdge and OpenLoop, one of the Midwest’s fastest-growing virtual care startups.

Both Wallace and Greiner will be involved across each phase of Novy’s studio model from applicant attraction to idea selection to startup scaling. They are joining Novy’s three founding partners, Eric Engelmann, David Tominsky, and Krista Martin. Together, the group brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in the healthcare, software, and investment sectors.

With this expansion in headcount, Novy is actively seeking applications for founders and startup ideas to run through their first round of evaluations beginning in April. A commitment of support from Novy for anyone selected would come with $1M in direct capital, two full-time executives, in-house product development, and a full suite of back-office support, including finance and human resources, bringing the total investment to about $2M.

If you are a founder, professor, graduate student, or corporate leader with an interesting software idea in the healthcare space, you can submit an application for consideration on Novy’s website. The studio will begin validating their top 25 ideas next month.

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About Novy

Founded in 2023 with the mission to turn good ideas into great companies, Novy is a Midwest venture studio that provides capital, guidance, and executive talent to innovative healthcare software startups across the country.

For more information, visit www.novyventures.com.  

Media Contact

Jess Greiner

VP of Marketing @ Novy

P: 319-316-3085

E: jess@novyventures.com