Five New York Health and Wellness Companies to Watch
It’s a new year and a new decade, and instead of making diet and exercise resolutions that inevitably get left behind, we have another idea: just start treating yourself well. The health and wellness industry keeps booming year after year, and now more than ever, wellness isn’t a luxury to splurge on occasionally, but a daily essential to your physical and mental health.
Technology can help with that, and with the largest bioscience workforce in the country, it’s no surprise that New York is the top pick for founders looking to set up shop. As the industry continues to grow, technology is making health solutions more affordable, accessible, and effective, so those New Year’s resolutions can become second-nature routines.
That’s why, this month, we’re profiling five startups helping you be the best you.
WELLORY
What does your company do?
Wellory founder and CEO Emily Hochman: Wellory is a wellness technology company on a mission to make the world a healthier place, starting with demystifing and democratizing nutrition for today’s consumers. Whether your goal is to lose weight, sleep better, or improve your overall health, it all starts with eating well. We connect you with a personal certified nutrition expert who educates you, supports you, and holds you accountable to eating healthy.
Why did you found your company in NYC?
EH: New York is the greatest city in the world, especially for emerging companies like Wellory. NYC has everything we need to scale, from resources, funding, networking opportunities, top talent, tech scene — you name it. But the best part of founding Wellory in New York is that I’m always meeting incredible people that I can continue learning from. I try to have at least one coffee meeting with someone new each week to keep growing personally and professionally. New Yorkers offer diversity in thought — something that can be hard to find in other cities!
Health and nutrition coaches are often seen as expensive or elite services. How is Wellory making them more accessible?
EH: We offer digital top quality health coaching at a fourth the cost of market rate. Through digital messaging, we’re eliminating the cost of physical offices and reducing the amount of time spent scheduling recurring phone or video calls. Not only does this make nutrition coaching more affordable and accessible, but it also makes it frictionless. We’re creating something that fits into both our clients’ and our providers’ day-to-day. We all live busy lives — Wellory is designed to fit into yours.
There’s lots of information out there — much of it misleading or inaccurate — about the most effective diets, cleanses, etc. How does Wellory ensure its users are receiving better-vetted guidance?
EH: Information overload is a big reason why Wellory exists. As a business, we’re directly addressing the fact that there is just too much out there — as a culture, we’ve somehow landed in a place where it’s considered normal to try multiple different restrictive or elimination diets every year. Our goal is to clear all of the clutter and get back to the fundamental basics of nutrition, helping our clients learn how to eat mindfully and intentionally.Quality assurance is the most important aspect of our business. We have a network of over 650 coaches, and we vet and qualify every coach before bringing them onto the platform to work with our clients. We not only consider nutrition education, certifications, and institutional training, but we look for trained experts who teach science-backed unbiased nutritional practices. Our providers believe in and teach the fundamentals of nutrition rather than any one specific diet.
Wellory is a subscription-based service. Is the subscription model evolving in the next decade?
EH: Absolutely! At Wellory, our focus is our customers. Each day, we’re listening to and learning about what our customers need and evolving with them, meaning everything about our product is constantly evolving, including our subscription model. I can’t tell you what our subscriptions will look like 10 years from now, but in the short term, we have some exciting subscription launches happening this year!
What goal is at the top of your list in growing your business in 2020?
EH: As an early-stage company, 2020 is all about learning from our customers, then iterating quickly. We’re moving and growing fast, but our goal is to always be thoughtful no matter how quickly we move!
How do you get to your office?
EH: I walk! It takes me about 15 minutes and I usually pick up a matcha tea on the way in.
Where do you get your favorite pizza slice?
EH: I personally don’t tolerate dairy very well, so I typically avoid pizza. Instead of a slice, I’ll tell you that my favorite on-the-go food is avocado toast from Charley St!
Where do you get your favorite bagel?
EH: I run a nutrition company, so I really should be answering questions more like “What's your favorite salad or smoothie order?”! I don’t eat bagels often, but I’m born and raised in Brooklyn, so if I do get a bagel, it’s from Brother’s Bagels in Cobble Hill.
What’s your favorite New York building?
EH: The IAC Building at the West Side Highway.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
EH: MatchaBar Soho — I gave up coffee five years ago but live for MatchaBar (which is now called Hustle).
What’s your favorite health hack?
EH: I like to lighten up my salad dressings with lemon juice! When I go to Sweetgreen, I order my dressing extra light with two squeezes of lemon — it still tastes great but makes me feel better than heavy dressing!
What’s one piece of advice you give people who want to improve their health?
EH: Can it be four quick pieces of advice? Follow the Wellory Way and you’ll be made in the shade. An easy way to remember the Wellory Way is to spell out WELL: (1) Water — drink up! (2) Eat your veggies, (2) Limit packaged foods, (4) Limit added sugar.
JOURNEY
What does your company do?
Journey founder and CEO Stephen Sokoler: Journey is on a mission to help all people live happier, healthier, less stressed lives by building the world’s most supportive and inclusive meditation community, both online and off. We believe that meditation is more impactful when done with others so we teach group meditation classes in local communities, organizations around the world, and through the Journey Live app.
Why did you found your company in NYC?
SS: NYC is my hometown and it’s amazing to be able to build my business here. We have access to great talent to build out both our consumer mobile app product and our B2B business.
Before founding Journey, you were building companies that serviced the business sector. What led you to shift to a meditation service?
SS: In 2011, while living in Sydney, I found meditation and it changed my life. I thought that if we could bring meditation to people in a simple, approachable, secular way, it would really resonate. So I put together a team of experts in science and meditation and created an accessible program. I launched it first as a mental wellbeing program for companies and organizations looking to help manage employees’ stress and mental health. Then we brought it to more people with the launch of Journey LIVE, the world’s first live, group meditation app (think Peloton for meditation).
Journey LIVE is a group meditation app that connects users together. Why did you build the service in that way? What are the benefits of group-based meditation, versus a more individualized app experience?
SS: For thousands of years, all over the world, meditation has been done in communities. By building authentic human connection into our experience, we offer the support and accountability often lacking in solo, guided meditations. The bonds that have formed in our community are so powerful and continue to inspire me!
How does Journey source and vet class instructors?
SS: We took a long time to source experienced meditation teachers, capable of holding space in this virtual way. They’ve each gone through a rigorous interview process, screen tests, and work with our head of teacher success to continue to elevate their teaching abilities. The result is a curated group of amazing human beings that come from all walks of life and represent a diverse mix of age, race, ethnicity and gender. This allows more people to find the practice accessible and relatable and best represents the communities we serve.
A lot of people think of meditation as an activity to “get off the grid,” to disconnect from technology? How is Journey instead bringing them together in an effective way?
SS: Technology can serve as a uniting tool when we engage with it in a way that nourishes us and helps us to authentically connect. With Journey LIVE, we’re using technology to help people build and strengthen the connection with themselves and the people around them.
You completed your seed round last year. What’s the next stage of growth for Journey? What are the company’s top goals for 2020?
SS: 2020 is all about growing the Journey LIVE community and getting more people to experience the power of live, group meditation. There are a lot of exciting community features on the horizon that will deepen and strengthen the connections being made on our platform.
How do you get to your office?
SS: I walk. It helps to live two blocks away!
Where do you get your favorite pizza slice?
SS: Lions, Tigers & Squares.
Where do you get your favorite bagel?
SS: Bagel Bob’s on University Place.
What’s your favorite New York building?
SS: Grand Central Station. Aside from the chaos, the building itself is absolutely stunning.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
SS: Jack’s or Kobrick for coffee. For lunch I’ll grab Sweetgreen and sit on the Highline. I love to stay close to home and our office in the Meatpacking District.
What’s your favorite health hack?
SS: Sleep! It’s by far the most important thing.
What’s one piece of advice you give people who want to improve their health?
SS: Don’t feel you have to go at it alone. Enlist others to join you and you’ll find the support you need to make long-term health improvements.
ELEKTRA HEALTH
What does your company do?
Elektra Health co-founders Alessandra Henderson and Jannine Versi: Elektra is bringing hormonal healthcare into the 21st century for the 31 million women currently navigating menopause in the U.S. Elektra’s next-gen telemedicine clinic offers women access to personalized, evidence-based medical care, as well as accessible educational content and a supportive community.
Why did you found your company in NYC?
AH & JV: New York is simply the best place to found a consumer healthcare startup. From a product and team perspective, the city is brimming with world-class talent and resources. Pair that with the city’s incredible wealth of female thought leaders, consumer brands, and medical institutions, there’s no other city better suited for us to drive the menopause conversation forward into the 21st century.
When we think about “women’s health,” we most often think about pregnancy and reproductive health. By focusing on midlife health — menopause specifically — how is Elektra working to shift those assumptions?
AH & JV: You’re right on the nose! Menopause is a universal experience that impacts every aspect of a woman’s health: mental, physical, and emotional. Unfortunately, it’s a space that has been ignored for years due to social stigma, a fragmented healthcare system, and under-investment in women's healthcare and research. We were floored to learn, for example, that less than 20% of OB/GYN residency programs offer any menopause training at all. At Elektra, we’re bringing together the best medical experts and providers in the space to ensure that every woman receives the care she deserves.
We’re also on a mission to empower women to take ownership over their hormonal health through accessible, evidence-based information. For example, everyone has heard of hot flashes, but did you know that women aged 45-54 have the highest suicide rate across the decades? Or that women are at risk of losing up to 20% of their bone mass within five years of menopause? We don’t share those facts to scare women – quite the opposite! At Elektra, we want women to understand what’s happening in this next phase of their life, and to provide them world-class medical care, resources, and support necessary to live well, beyond fertility.
Many of the health needs Elektra plans to address are considered taboo subjects. What are they exactly, and what do we need to break open more public conversation around them
AH & JV: If you look at how “menopause” is portrayed in our culture, at best you’ll find depictions of an uninspired, frumpy woman who has lost her youth, and at worst you’ll find images of a “crazy”, “hysterical” woman. We need to change the narrative. Menopause is the beginning of a new chapter, one that can be incredibly powerful and transformative.Women need to remember that they are not alone and that there is nothing to be ashamed of – 80% of women will experience menopausal symptoms. We’re seeing early signs of a shift in the public conversation around this, and at Elektra we’re excited to reframe the narrative and elevate women as they age.
Your founding team brings a range of startup and technology experience to the table, including several big names in New York’s growing technology ecosystems. How did those roles set you up to found your company?
AH: When I graduated from college with a humanities degree, I could have never anticipated that 10+ years later I’d be the founder of a women’s health tech startup focused on menopause. When it comes to career, however, I believe in two guiding principles: (1) lead with curiosity, and (2) surround yourself with the absolute best people you know. These have taken me down an unexpected path, from selling Chinese contemporary art in Beijing, to joining Artsy as employee #6, to building early stage venture studios at MIT Startup Studio and Human Ventures. Curiosity and a personal hormonal health story led me to found Elektra Health, but great people are the most valuable asset of all as a founder.
JV: Like Alessandra, I was a humanities undergrad who was attracted to the startup and tech space, but I had lots of different stops along the way — from banking to international development to the Obama Administration. I joined my first startup in college, later worked for Google, and several early-stage health tech startups. I loved the excitement — and challenge — of transforming ideas into meaningful improvements to the healthcare system and the ways people experience it. I’m one of three daughters in a family of physicians, so healthcare and women’s health, specifically, has always been important to me. When a friend introduced me to Alessandra, I wasn’t necessarily looking to become a cofounder but I was incredibly compelled by her vision and the chance to help realize Elektra’s mission.
How do you see telemedicine evolving in the next decade? What goals do you have for Elektra in 2020?
AH & JV: Although telemedicine technology has been around for awhile, adoption remains nascent. Consumers see it as an episodic, or “one-off”, resource. Over the next decade, however, that will change as patients lean into the convenience and accessibility of telemedicine. We’re excited for how this will impact the patient experience between visits, including patient education, remote monitoring and building a more robust health record over time. At Elektra, our virtual clinic is in private beta as we continue to learn how women engage with a telemedicine platform as their trusted partner through menopause. From a product perspective, that means we’re laser-focused on onboarding members and delivering an exceptional and individually-tailored experience of care, education, support, and community.
How do you get to your office?
AH & JV: The 456 from Brooklyn direct to Grand Central Terminal (preferred activity: the Times Crossword).
Where do you get your favorite pizza slice?
JV: The clam pizza at Rubirosa.
What is the best New York waterfront?
JV: Brooklyn Bridge Park (where I got engaged)!
What’s your favorite New York building?
AH: It’s a tie between The Met and the new Whitney Museum building.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
AH: LPQ Flatiron – not too creative, but convenient. (R.I.P. Union Square’s Coffee Shop.)
What’s your favorite health hack?
AH & JV: Sleep!
What’s one piece of advice you give people who want to improve their health?
AH & JV: Become an active participant in your emotional and physical health journey. Improved health starts by getting curious and asking questions to your doctor (plan ahead!) as well as your friends, your family, and yourself.
THIRTY MADISON
What does your company do?
Thirty Madison co-founder and CEO Steven Gutentag: Thirty Madison is a health company bringing specialized care and treatment to everyone. Launching with Keeps, a men’s hair loss solution, followed by Cove, which focuses on migraines, and Evens, which treats acid reflux, we are continuously expanding our offering to find answers to chronic conditions. With a human-first approach that provides care and support from diagnosis to treatment and tracking, we work to improve how millions of people manage their chronic conditions.
Thirty Madison is the parent company of what originally started as Keeps, your hair loss treatment product. Since then you’ve added Cove and and Evens. What are those products, and why did you choose to expand in that way?
SG: Our mission at Thirty Madison is to make specialized care and treatment accessible to everyone. We do this by focusing on one chronic condition at a time and taking a human-first approach — providing ongoing care and support, from education and diagnosis to treatment and tracking. Cove offers personalized care and treatment for migraine sufferers while Evens does the same for those with acid reflux.
Medicine and healthcare is subject to a complex web of regulations. How are you interacting with governments and medical boards to make your products more accessible?
SG: We want to be at the forefront of the new generation of tech companies that respect regulations, are leaders in compliance, and put what’s right for consumers first. For too long we’ve seen Silicon Valley companies try to grow fast at the expense of regulations or rules that are designed to protect the consumer or patient. We do not believe in cutting corners for growth, we believe in serving patients responsibly. We work with both in-house and leading outside counsel to make sure that we’re compliant and providing the highest standard of care possible.
A lot of healthcare still happens offline via more traditional models. How is Thirty Madison using technology to connect more people to treatments?
SG: Healthcare is generally a fractured and disconnected experience, with consumers responsible for connecting the dots of their care. Thirty Madison is breaking through the antiquated industry with a human-first approach. We start with the customer experience in mind and build condition-specific experiences to help people successfully and affordably manage their chronic condition from start to finish.
How do you see telemedicine evolving in the next decade? What goals do you have for Thirty Madison in 2020?
SG: Telemedicine is still in its infancy, and you’re seeing it continue to evolve as technology improves and patients become more comfortable with this method of interacting with physicians. We believe telemedicine will play a strong role in helping expand access to high quality, specialized care. If you fast forward five to ten years in the future, the idea that for most medical issues, even complicated ones, you need to see a physician in person to get the best standard of care will change. In fact, over that time frame, the standard of care that you receive from specialized telemedicine visits may surpass that of the average in-person primary care experience.
In terms of our 2020 goals, we hope to help the tens of millions of Americans who suffer from each of the chronic conditions we currently offer and continue to enhance the standard of care and experience for them. We also expect to launch our fourth brand later this year.
How do you get to your office?
SG: The subway.
Where do you get your favorite pizza slice?
SG: Vinnie’s in Williamsburg.
Where do you get your favorite bagel?
SG: Shelsky’s.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
SG: These are too precious to share, otherwise they become packed. :)
What’s one piece of advice you give people who want to improve their health?
SG: Start with one thing at a time and focus on that rather than trying to do everything at once. Improving your diet and exercise are generally good places to start. My lawyer said to caveat this with the fact I’m not a doctor. :)
BREAK THE LOVE
What does your company do?
Break the Love co-founder and CEO Trisha Goyal: Break the Love helps players of all levels learn, discover, and book recreational and competitive tennis activities. We are on a mission to create more access and equity to tennis in New York.
Why did you found your company in NYC?
TG: We had a lot of options but chose NYC because the pain point was strongest here. It was the city where people wanted Break the Love the most, so we decided to make NYC our homebase.
In NYC, tennis courts are notoriously hard to reserve. Why is that? How is Break the Love solving for that process?
TG: There are a lot of reasons why tennis courts are hard to reserve — a couple of the obvious reasons coming down to infrastructure and that many courts aren’t online. But at Break the Love, we also believe it’s difficult because there aren’t great online solutions out there that actually help empower parks, club business owners, and coaches to run their businesses in a sustainable way while giving players lots of choices and transparency into what is available to them. Break the Love is solving that problem by giving players of all levels the ability to discover all of the courts in NYC while creating the tools for tennis service providers to create really great programs that players want and need in the city.
NYC is lucky to be home to the USTA and the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens. How are you partnering with them and other community sports groups to make tennis accessible to more people?
TG: We are also really lucky to be home to the US Open! We are working actively with the USTA to see how Break the Love can help grow the game beyond booking courts to help create a more vibrant tennis community in NYC — we’re really excited about that. Along with the USTA, we are partnering with the New York Junior & Tennis Learning after school program to help them bring more awareness to their inner-city youth programs so that kids who might not have access to tennis can take part in their free programs through our platform.
You have a background as a product manager for tech and media companies. How are you applying those technical skills as you move into a CEO role?
TG: As a product manager, you learn how to take user data and work with designers and engineers to create features to improve the experience for the user. As a founder of a product-driven consumer tech startup, the skills translates well given that you have to work with engineers, designers, and most importantly, users to understand their needs and create features based off what users are telling you.
You’ve served as a mentor for other woman product managers working to advance their tech careers? What advice do you give future women entrepreneurs?
TG: I have. The best advice I have for PMs, gender aside, is to try to take on projects outside of work to build a stronger tool set. Product managers are problem solvers and I think the wider range of problems you can get and solve through, the better PM you will be, especially given that consumer behavior changes so quickly. For future women entrepreneurs, I recommend knowing your numbers. Vision is extremely important to have, but it is difficult to operate, recruit, and raise funding on vision alone as a woman entrepreneur without also having a strong grasp around your numbers.
Break the Love is still in beta for now. What big plans can we expect from the company in 2020?
TG: We plan to launch out of beta this year in NYC so that all local residents and visitors can learn, discover, and book tennis activities in and around the city.
How do you get to your office?
TG: Train.
Where do you get your favorite pizza slice?
TG: An Italian restaurant in Queens called Levante.
Where do you get your favorite bagel?
TG: Russ and Daughters.
What is the best New York waterfront?
TG: Domino Park in Williamsburg.
What’s the best place in New York for a coffee or lunch meeting?
TG: Hard one, but these days I have been liking Maman on Centre Street.
What’s your favorite health hack?
TG: Keeping my phone on airplane mode in the morning until I have finished walking my dog.
What’s one piece of advice you give people who want to improve their health?
TG: I highly recommend that, no matter how busy you are, set aside one hour a week to do something that makes you happy. It can be the same thing or something different every week but having that one hour is important and is proven to help in all other aspects of your life.
All illustrations by Elly Rodgers
New York City, USA, - July. 11. 2015: Runners commuting to Manhattan: by prochasson frederic/Shutterstock.com