Cognify Health, a healthcare startup working to improve access to concussion testing for youth sports, has raised a multi-million dollar funding round led by Game Changers Ventures. Other participants include Westbound Equity, sports private equity executive Advaith Anand, former assistant attorney general Viet Dinh, Jack Davis of Tamarisk Lane and others. The investment will go toward expanding the startup’s employee headcount (currently around 10, including an outside product engineering team) and enhancing its products.
The L.A.-based company was founded by Christian Juzang, a Harvard grad with venture firm experience. He saw firsthand the difficulty of securing quick concussion care at the youth sports level after his sister sustained a head injury playing volleyball. Juzang pointed out that for concussions, timely care is crucial for long-term recovery and for avoiding any mental health side effects that can follow.
Cognify is equal parts platform and medical health provider, giving youth athletes a direct line to care. A person in need of an appointment can go to the site and book a virtual doctor visit within 24 hours. Juzang sees a future where Cognify is an integrated healthcare layer for youth sports programs, providing its offering to large pools of athletes.
“The biggest thing for us is we didn’t want to be a scheduling integration,” Juzang said. “... We wanted to own the process. We felt like the biggest flywheel capacity for us is going to be owning it. And so we actually brought the doctors on. We operate as a medical practice today.”
Game Changers Ventures is the newest investment vehicle for Roger Ehrenberg, the managing partner of Eberg Capital. In roughly the last half year, GCV has invested in auto racing platform Track Titan, data platform Equipe, operations platform Arkero and fan engagement platform Swsh as part of its early-stage effort in the sports tech, media, and gaming verticals.
