This story originally appeared on Black enterprise
This toptecheasy.com keeps diversity in mind as she builds her platform.
Physician Ami Kumordzie developed a fintech platform with no experience and a mission to connect consumers with IRS-compliant sellers, and encourage people to invest in improving their health.
According to Forbesafter the CEO of Sika Health noticed the shortcomings in the health care system while studying at Stanford University School of Medicine, she decided not to go into residency and instead get her MBA.
“My first job was as a management consultant at BCG for healthcare clients,” she said, adding that the analytics role helped her identify the gap in the market.
Kumordzie was inspired to launch Sika Health after her mother was laid off from her hotel job during the pandemic.
“Even though I worked healthcare my whole career i had to scramble and practically become a tax expert to find out how they [my mother] could spend this money before she lost it,” she said.
“Approximately 70 million Americans are enrolled in FSA or HSA accounts and contribute about $150 billion a year,” Kumordzie said, noting the great loss consumers experience from forfeiting their FSA benefits.
“That’s a real tragedy because it’s money that people could have invested in improving their health,” Kumordzie said.
“We need more ways to save and tools that help stretch our dollars,” she said. “[Using FSA and HSA dollars] basically means you’re buying health care at a 30% discount.”
Kumordzie raised $6.2 million in the early stages of financing.
“The goal was to raise $500,000,” she said. “Within weeks, I surpassed my goal and raised $1.2 million.” Kumordzie later reached $5 million in a seed funding round led by Forerunner Ventures representative Brian O’Malley.
“Having a brand like Forerunner as one of our backers makes a big difference when you’re trying to hire people,” Kumordzie said. “It makes a big difference when you’re interviewing and trying to convince someone to quit their well-paying stable job to take risks in a startup company.”
Kumordzie attributes her non-traditional background to her success in attracting venture capitalists.
The fintech founder wanted to be able to hire great tech professionals and eventually Sika Health was able to hire the founder of the payments team at Etsy.
“Sika is on a mission to ensure that customers can seamlessly access and spend their HSA/FSA funds on items they want, whenever they want,” the website wrote.
