5 on Funding with Edward Likovich, CEO of Nymbl Science

Welcome to 5 on Funding! This weekly newsletter asks venture-backed startups 5 detailed ways they plan to use the new funding to scale their companies.

Quick Facts About Nymbl Science

Company Description: Nymbl was founded on the idea that access to widespread balance training is the key to preventing falls for a large portion of our population. Our founder, Dr. JP Farcy, initially proved a correlation between a person’s balance and how a now widely available digital experience can reach a previously unreachable audience to reduce falls. The combination of serving physical exercise and concurrent cognitive challenges (dual-tasking) in an accessible setting is key to improving balance for a large segment of our population. Using this combination of modern technology with a scientific foundation in dual-tasking, Nymbl is pursuing the mission of removing physical and emotional barriers and helping older adults move, live, and be how they want.

Industry: Health and wellness

Amount Raised: $13m

What 5 things will you do with this funding?

Key Priority for Funding: Investing in our team, customers, and brand

1. Invest in people

“We have a great team, and we're going to roughly double the team to add capabilities across the board. A couple of things we're thinking about are additional salespeople to target markets that have been great for us, adding to the product team, and adding some in-house design capabilities. We previously had to outsource some of these services, and with that, you lose some control and quality compared to having those resources in-house. And then finally, adding developers so that we can produce at a higher rate, more nimbly.”

2. Product expansion

“We started off in falls and fall prevention. What we've found is that older adults are really hungry to find solutions to other areas of their health and are looking for digital solutions available in their own homes. And I think that the world has been a little slow to recognize this. People still have an image of an older adult from World War II. And you know, 80% of older adults have smart devices. And so just like any other age category that looks for solutions through apps, they're looking for the same thing. 

And so what we've seen is that older adults will use our fall prevention tool and they'll say, ‘I'm feeling better, what else can I work on?’ What we're going to be putting out a little bit later this year is going to be something on the topic of urinary urgency, which we're super excited about. 

When you look at barriers to mobility in older adult populations, the number one concern is, ‘I'm afraid to go outside because I'm afraid of falling’ and number two is, ‘I don't know if there's going to be a bathroom nearby and I don't want to embarrass myself.’ Something like more than 40% of older adults deal with this. What we've seen is that a very similar approach that we use for balance training can also be used to train the pelvic floor and core muscles. That’s another key area that we're investing in.”

3. Brand and market presence 

“We've developed some great outcomes. Everywhere we've deployed, we've seen market-leading engagement, we've seen positive ROIs across the board that are very significant, and most of the market doesn't know this yet. And so a lot of what we'll be doing is investing in our presence, whether it's through our online presence and conferences and trade show attendance; we’re focused on getting our name out there.”

4. Publish clinical results

“We have a really great study that's recently finished and in the process of being written. We do such great work across cost savings outcomes, quality points for health plans, member satisfaction and retention. And we're not publishing this in the way we should be or could be. So that's going to be another investment — giving our clinical team the resources to run proper studies and publish results.”

5. Face time with our customers 

“We launched during Covid, so there was no in-person time with customers. Sure, Zoom is nice, but when you sit down with somebody in person, even if it's 15 minutes, it changes the nature of the relationship. They see you're a real person. You see they’re a real person.”

About the Founder: Edward Likovich is a technology startup executive with a passion for solving problems and building great teams. He is the CEO of Nymbl Science, a Colorado-based digital health startup focused on fall prevention through balance evaluation and training. Ed is also the managing partner of Shenango Labs, a fund that makes early-stage investments in digital health, fintech, edtech, and real estate.

Ed grew up in the middle of nowhere (Hermitage, PA) before leaving home to earn three degrees from Harvard. After earning his Ph.D. in applied physics, Ed took a short two-year vacation with J.P. Morgan’s rates algo trading group. Following that, Ed was the CEO of GoodLux Technology, a Boston-based digital health startup that developed bright light therapy products for the non-pharmacological treatment of depression. He was also an entrepreneur-in-residence at Meritage Funds in Denver. Ed lives in Denver with his wife and 4 daughters.