By Krysten Brenlla
You may have heard of last year’s eMerge Americas startup showcase winner, HealthBird – a local startup that enables users to find and compare health insurances using artificial intelligence technology, similar to dating applications, like Bumble (which is actually where the founders met).
Since taking home the investment prize of more than $400,000 last year, founders Irena Tigranyan and Ariel Dominguez have achieved significant milestones: they got married, expanded their team to 150 people, enhanced HealthBird’s interface to allow members to book doctor’s appointments directly on the app and manage medications through HealthBird’s Rx card, launched HealthBird LatAM, and are opening a Series A funding round.
And, as if that’s not enough, Tigranyan and Dominguez have launched a new venture, MedPass, which is taking mental health and wellness to the next level.
“MedPass is health and wellness all under one application,” said Tigranyan. “Through MedPass, members have access to unlimited telehealth appointments, mental health resources, Class Pass credits, nutrition recipes, and more – and we’re just getting started.”
Over the last year, Tigranyan and Dominguez have been conducting market research to understand what their customers, and potential new ones, may need in terms of their health and wellness.
Although both applications focus on health, wellness, and lifestyle, they are completely different from each other. While HealthBird is free for users, it uses AI technology to help members compare quotes from health insurance providers, with insurance companies paying HealthBird a commission on the plans they sell.
On the other hand, MedPass plans start at $44 a month for users, with three different plans to choose from, depending on the members’ wants and needs. MedPass members have access to nutritionists, doctors, and therapists, all under one application.
In addition, the application also offers a 24/7 live LLM-based AI chat box that provides users with recommendations, like new recipes and workouts. The recommendations were fed to the AI from real nutritionists, doctors, personal trainers, and therapists. If users want more detailed responses that the AI cannot provide, a real nutritionist or therapist will respond to the members’ request within 24 hours.
MedPass members also have access to 24/7 unlimited telehealth visits with both doctors and therapists across all 50 states. Tigranyan says that this was an extremely important feature for them to roll out because they wanted to ensure that whenever their customers needed to talk to someone, they weren’t waiting for long periods of time – especially if they needed a telehealth visit for emergencies.
“When we launched HealthBird, we really focused on learning more about our customers. We learned that there were two reasons why they weren’t buying health insurances from us – one, they were priced out. And two, they weren’t qualified for health insurance,” Tigranyan said. “Because of this, we wanted to make MedPass accessible for everyone. Think of it as a Netflix account for your health and wellness. We wanted to make MedPass a tool to really help you continue staying on top of your health and wellness.”
While Dominguez is a Cuban-American and a Miami native, Tigranyan is originally from Armenia, and grew up in Moscow. In 2014, her family won a green card to come to the United States, and ever since moving to Miami and meeting her husband, Tigranyan says there’s no city she’d rather be to grow her family and business.
“For Ariel and I, it was a no-brainer for us to stay and launch both HealthBird and MedPass in South Florida,” Tigranyan said. “This is our home. There’s no city like Miami.”
For the future, Tigranyan says they will continue to connect and work with their MedPass customers to launch new features based on their customers’ needs.
When asked if she had any advice for this year’s eMerge startup showcase winner, EVQLV, she emphasized that any founder should stay connected with the community through different events and networking opportunities, and to not be afraid to look at long-term goals while shooting for the stars.
“Have all the conversations, and talk to as many companies and people as you can,” Tigranyan said. “Even if they aren’t in the same space, continue to build that relationship – when you’re building a company, you need support; that’s so valuable. You’re in the best place, in Miami, to build that community.”
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