ATLANTA, June 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Employer Health Innovation Roundtable (EHIR), a private community focused on accelerating healthcare innovation by connecting progressive Fortune 500 benefit leaders with cutting edge digital health solutions, and Magnify Ventures, a pioneering venture capital fund focused on technology in the care economy, today announced the launch of their second annual Care Economy & Family Technology Academy, a curated program designed to accelerate emerging solutions addressing the needs of the modern family.
Together, the partnership is focused on building and accelerating a growing network of innovative, early-stage companies solving the gaps in the growing $648B care economy. Building on lessons learned and growing employer interest in new solutions across areas like childcare benefits, household management tools, and caregiver support, the EHIR Academy will combine customized advisory, expert-led content, and unmatched exposure to the incredible work of nine hand-selected teams.
For millions of Americans and employers, the pandemic exacerbated a costly, ongoing caregiving crisis. Working parents left their jobs as childcare options dwindled and remote school stretched on, underscoring long-standing caregiving challenges for working families. The demands were even higher for the millions in the "sandwich generation" who are caring for both children and aging relatives.
As employers now grapple with the Great Resignation, work to fill vacancies, and manage a changing labor market, they continue to diversify and deepen care-related solutions that can help attract and retain talent while boosting productivity and reducing overall healthcare spend.
Family caregiving continues to be a key challenge and opportunity in the US workforce:
- Caregivers are a large part of the US workforce: An estimated one-in-five workers are active family caregivers. Millions of workers in the US are in the sandwich generation - caring for both a child and an aging family member.
- Caregiving challenges cost employers billions each year: Experts estimate a total of $25B is lost in productivity annually to caregiving challenges, even before the pandemic. Nearly one-third of all caregiver employees have voluntarily left a job at some point during their careers because of their caregiving responsibilities.
- Care economy solutions can help attract top talent: Generational and cultural shifts in today's workforce are making caregiving-related benefits an increasingly important tool in attracting talent. E.g. 69% of women with children under 5 would be more likely to choose an employer that offered on-site child care or benefits to help pay for childcare.
"Employers today are investing in solutions to address the caregiving challenges of employees, whether that's in caring for children, aging family members, or those with disabilities," said Julie Wroblewski, Managing Partner at Magnify Ventures. "Technology-driven solutions that can scale quickly represent a big opportunity for employers to do this efficiently while attracting talent, improving productivity, and boosting retention. We're proud to continue our partnership with EHIR Academy to highlight a diverse range of emerging caregiving support solutions for the employer market."
This year's EHIR Academy roster boasts 10 of the most innovative emerging solutions in the care economy and family technology space. For early-stage, technology-enabled companies focused on emerging caregiving and family benefits solutions. The Academy provides an unrivaled opportunity for them to mature their offering in collaboration with industry-leading stakeholders.
"Our Academy partnership with EHIR has proven to be an incredible unlock for entrepreneurs forging technology solutions to solve for the massive market opportunities in delivering reliable and quality care for working parents and caregivers," said Joanna Drake, Managing Partner at Magnify Ventures. "As a pioneer in stewarding venture capital towards family tech innovation, we are meanwhile proud investors of participants MiSalud, Cocoon, and most recently Kinside."
Additional prior graduates of the EHIR Academy include companies at the forefront of innovation in their respective spaces, such as Vivvi and Joshin.
"The EHIR program condenses years of enterprise selling wisdom into a week of content. I wish I had been a part of it earlier in my company's journey so I could have incorporated the learnings into my strategy from the start," said Brittney Barrett, Co-Founder & CMO at Kinside.
"We're proud to partner with organizations like Magnify Ventures to accelerate solutions at the forefront of innovation in areas of emerging healthcare need," said Michael Laquere, CEO, Employer Health Innovation Roundtable. "We've built an entire partner and innovator ecosystem that cuts through the noise to accelerate the adoption of innovation and drive impact through action."
For more information on the EHIR Academy or Magnify Ventures, please contact us at EHIR@ehir.com
About EHIR:
Employer Health Innovation Roundtable (EHIR), a World 50 brand, is a coalition of the largest and most progressive employers and regional health plans collectively representing over 10M lives. Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of innovation and drive impact through action. We do this by matching the largest and most progressive employers, regional health plans, and healthcare providers with the most compelling digital healthcare startups ("Innovators"). We host semi-annual roundtable meetings (Spring and Fall) to share learnings amongst our members and collectively review the most promising emerging health and wellness solutions. Through our collaborative model, EHIR has been providing a streamlined innovation process and valuable insights to leading employers and health plans for more than 8 years.
About Magnify Ventures:
Magnify Ventures is a pioneering venture capital firm investing in visionary entrepreneurs leading the digital transformation of how we live, work and care for one another. The firm was founded by Julie Wroblewski, an investor, and advisor with institutional-scale family offices and mission-focused organizations, and Joanna Drake, a serial company builder, and entrepreneurial venture investor. Magnify Ventures, anchored by Pivotal Ventures, a Melinda French Gates company, invests in early-stage technology companies that are revolutionizing the care economy, including parenting and family life, the future of work, household optimization, and aging and longevity. Magnify Ventures is headquartered in Los Angeles and co-located in San Francisco. For more information, visit www.magnify.vc
Media contact:
Sam Yapp Wolfe
VP of Marketing, Events, and Partnerships
EHIR@ehir.com
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Image 1: EHIR Academy sponsored by Magnify
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