FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Daniel Gregory
July 13, 2015 202-414-0785;
Vynca Wins Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit Business Plan Competition Grand Prize
Online platform for advanced care planning recognized for innovative solutions
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (July 13, 2015) – Health management tech company Vynca won grand prize at the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit’s Business Plan Competition, June 30 at Santa Clara University. Vynca co-founders Ryan Van Wert and Rush Bartlett accepted the $10,000 award for their care coordination and population management software platform for advanced care planning. Six finalists competed for the prize, presenting their ideas in front of an audience of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and innovative thinkers in the longevity economy, catering to consumers age 50 and older.
“What a whirlwind of a conference! Winning the Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit Competition is a huge deal for us. Having the affirmation that we are onto something big from an expert panel of judges is incredible and the award itself will help us enhance our system so we can bring additional hospitals onto Vynca’s network,” said Bartlett.
Vynca’s online platform addresses critical unmet needs in end-of-life care, helping ensure patients’ wishes are carried out. Many people currently rely on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) to dictate their treatment near the end of life. However, in almost 90 percent of cases the paper POLST forms are not available at the scene of an emergency, so Vynca provided a technology solution to digitize the forms, helping ensure end-of-life instructions are available where they are needed, when they are needed. The technology is already helping patients and healthcare providers have meaningful conversations about care preferences and navigate the complex process of advance care planning.
“With 78 million Boomers and the birth of our longevity economy, entrepreneurs are developing innovative solutions for the market. I commend Vynca for their work addressing and improving the sensitive area of advance care planning,” said Mary Furlong, the Summit’s producer. “All of this year’s Business Plan Competition finalists have wonderful potential, and we’re hoping that each of them can grow their ideas with the help of the investors and innovative business minds at the Summit.”
The competition’s five other finalists included Accel Diagnostics, Bonaventure Water, Independent Living, Luna Lights, and müvr. The competition was moderated by Jeff Makowka, director of Thought Leadership at AARP, and the judges included: Lynne Chou, partner, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers; John Hopper, managing director, Link-age Ventures, Inc; Jody Holtzman, senior vice president, Thought Leadership, AARP , Scott Smith, founder & managing partner, Viant Group; Gavin Teo, principal, Comcast Ventures; Jeff Lee, principal, DCM Ventures; Jim Murphy, vice president, Medicare & Retirement; UnitedHealthcare, Dr. Sanjaya Kumar, co-founder & managing director, Synepta Group, Inc.
Highlights from the Summit included a keynote conversation between Norman Lear, renowned television and film writer, producer, philanthropist and social activist, and MSNBC Anchor Alex Witt on disrupting the status quo for social good. Attendees also received an update on the White House Conference on Aging from executive director Nora Super, in recognition of the 50th anniversary of Medicare, Medicaid, and the 80th anniversary of Social Security.
The annual Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit & Business Plan Competition is a venue for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to share information about serving or investing in companies catering to consumers age 50 and older. The event is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates, the nation’s premiere strategic consulting firm for businesses targeting the boomer and senior marketplace and co-produced by Susan Ann Davis, CEO and chairman of Susan Davis International, a full service public relations agency headquartered in Washington, D.C.
Sponsors of the 2015 Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit & Business Plan Competition included AARP, UnitedHealthcare, The Business of Aging, CareLinx, Link-age, Susan Davis International, GreatCall, Inc., Caring.com, Innovate LTC, Intel, CDW Healthcare, Posit Science, SilverRide, VNA Health Group, WAHVE, The Sequoias San Francisco, Squire Patton Boggs, Petplan, Keck Medicine of USC, Care Angel, Home Instead Senior Care, and First Republic Bank.
Media Note: To coordinate interviews with this year’s Business Plan winner, finalists, or Summit Producers Mary Furlong or Susan Ann Davis, please contact Daniel Gregory at or 202-414-0785.
About Mary Furlong and Associates
Founded in 2003, Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA) is headquartered in San Francisco. The firm's strategy, business development and marketing services are uniquely geared to drive new opportunities for clients in the baby boomer and senior markets. MFA has secured more than $130 million for longevity marketplace investments, and more than $15 million for nonprofits. Dr. Furlong is the Dean's Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University and founder of SeniorNet (1986), Third Age Media (1996), and Mary Furlong & Associates (2002).For more information, visit www.maryfurlong.com.
About Susan Davis International
Susan Davis International, co-producer of the summit, is a global strategic communications and public affairs firm based in Washington, D.C., with 72 agency partners worldwide, and known as one of the top public affairs agencies in the U.S.
www.susandavis.com
About Vynca
Vynca isacarecoordinationand population management software platformfor advancedcareplanning. Vynca's software provides analytics to inform the timing and quality of the conversations, documentation tools to ensure those conversations are recorded accurately, and single sign on access to those documents through the electronic medical record. Vynca is located in Palo Alto, CA and can be reached at or www.vynca.org
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