Early-stage capital firm Slow Ventures has invested $1.1 million in physiotherapist/creator Tayla Cannon and her app Rebuildr.
The investment is part of a $60 million fund Slow Ventures announced earlier this year, with the goal of “directly backing creators with ambitions to build companies tailor-made for their passionate communities.”
Slow Ventures specifically said it was looking for creators in “high value verticals”–and health & wellness is certainly one of them.
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Cannon, whose chronic back pain inspired her to start working in physiotherapy, gathered nearly 140,000 followers on Instagram with posts about her “proactive” and “holistic” approach to building (and rebuilding) bodies–an approach she told TechCrunch is different from the “localized, reactive, and volume-based nature” of modern physical therapy.
At the same time, she branded herself as a “virtual physiotherapist” who takes long-term appointments from people suffering with chronic pain or recovering from injuries.
After building that digital side of her business, she decided to share her methods on Rebuildr, a HIPAA-compliant mentorship app where she’ll instruct other physical therapy professionals on how to run an online practice in their field.
“I wasn’t trying to build a business; I was just putting my brain on the internet and helping people rethink what care could look like,” she told TechCrunch.
But Slow Ventures saw a business; Cannon said she was introduced to the firm through a friend, and met with Slow Ventures’ investor Megan Lightcap.
“The conversation sparked something,” she said, noting that the $1.1 million seed round investment has allowed her to “imagine a version of Rebuilder that’s even bigger” than she originally planned.
She explained Rebuildr will help newly digital physiotherapists cover some of the gaps in knowledge she herself experienced, like a lack of understanding in nitty-gritty business running, consumer acumen, and content strategy, “None of which are taught in healthcare.”
Ultimately, with Rebuildr, “I want to make high-quality rehab accessible anywhere in the world, not limited by geography, insurance, or 30-minute appointments,” she said.
The app is slated to launch early next year. As for where else Slow Ventures is putting its money, it also invested in BookTube star John Fish and woodworker Jonathan Katz-Moses, and recently led a funding round for Diary of a CEO creator/host Steven Barlett that valued the podcaster at $425 million.
