Impower Health, an Omaha-based healthtech startup sparked from local university research, announced it has appointed a new CEO and secured $500,000 in venture capital funding. The company plans to use these latest milestones to back product pilots and to lay the groundwork for commercialization.
Impower Health offers software and hardware solutions that transform existing treadmills into diagnostic tools for measuring natural gaits. The patented tech is able to automatically match a treadmill to a user’s speed to enable a more accurate reading of an indicator of health.
With such data, the company said, gym and clinic settings can better assist individuals with rehabilitation, preventive health and performance goals. Targeted customers include physical rehab providers, fitness trainers and treadmill manufacturers.
The pre-seed round is led by Boomerang Ventures, a healthtech-focused venture studio and fund in Indianapolis. Impower Health leadership said Invest Nebraska, a statewide venture development nonprofit, has provided additional funding.
“Right now, the focus is disciplined execution,” newly appointed Impower Health CEO Trent McCracken said.
McCracken is an experienced consultant and business leader in healthtech. Impower Health Founder Doug Miller, who previously served as CEO, said this background convinced him to place McCracken in his current role. Miller is now acting as chief product officer.
“We have to get through these pilots and learn and present the data that physical therapists and the trainers are looking for,” McCracken said. “When we have those, then we’ll have a lot to work with as we continue to expand out on the product and the solution.”
Looking back
Founded in 2021, Impower Health’s origins come from the initial progress of University of Nebraska at Omaha students surrounding the creation of a self-pacing treadmill. Miller said the UNO Department of Biomechanics — under the leadership of Associate Professor Brian Knarr and his interest in post-stroke rehabilitation — moved forward with a solution inspired by the students’ work.
Miller said the university reached out to him over the years, engaging with his experience in the exercise equipment industry and leveraging his insights for development. Miller is a biomedical engineer who formerly filled chief architect and senior engineering roles at Life Fitness.
Miller said he was approached to help launch a company from this technology as a result of the efforts of university and local entrepreneurial support organizations such as the UNeTech Institute and Proven Ventures. He said Proven Ventures led and funded the prototype round of the startup back in July 2022.
Miller pointed to additional resources that provided assistance with funding, validating and de-risking Impower Health’s business model. These included the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, NSF I-Corps and Boomerang Studio through Boomerang Ventures.
Miller added that his time at Boomerang Studio enforced a need to find someone with experience outside the corporate world to perform necessary tasks, such as forming strategic partnerships and raising impactful capital.
“Boomerang helped me find Trent, and now he’s just adding rocket fuel to our fire,” Miller said.
McCracken said he felt drawn to the startup, its culture and what he envisioned he and Miller could accomplish. On a personal level, he said he also believed in the importance of the mission. McCracken described how extensive physical therapy after being hit by a truck as a kid enabled him to beat the odds and go on to become a college athlete.
“Speaking with some of the PTs and some of the people we serve … our technology clinically and scientifically validates what they see,” McCracken said. “That was a big thing for me.”
Accelerating forward
Miller said Impower Health will use the funds to “accelerate” its product pilots in order to gather real-world feedback, make potential pivots and build toward additional fundraising and a commercial launch.
While both Miller and McCracken are based outside Nebraska, they said Impower Health will remain headquartered in Omaha. They plan to search for talent and establish deeper roots in the university and startup ecosystem that helped it grow.
“That is our community, that is our partnerships, that is where we want to be,” McCracken said.
