Fundraising Fox
MedDefend
Techstars '23West Des Moines, US · Founded 2022 · 5 employees on LinkedIn · 1 known investors
Find your way into MedDefend
Sign up to see every warm intro you have to MedDefend
- Paths you didn't know you had: your email and LinkedIn already hold routes to the MedDefend team. We find them for you
- 2nd- and 3rd-degree connections: the friend-of-a-friend routes that take hours to manually find through your inbox or LinkedIn
- Answers now, not in days: momentum is everything in a raise. Skip asking around whether someone knows someone
Days of research, done the moment you sign in, with every route ranked by how warm it is.
Boardwalk Health (formerly MedDefend) offers a platform for chronically ill patients to access and track their health records, care plans, and health insights at home, with AI-powered tools that help patients and providers interpret medical data. It also provides telehealth visits with clinicians, accepting major health insurance plans.
Also known as Boardwalk Health · MedDefend Corp.
Investors · 1
How we know: the Techstars portfolio · open dataset · Top 3000 Accelerator Startups (no YC) 2026-08 · Not right? Tell us
Company profile
researched Sep 2026MedDefend, now operating as Boardwalk Health, is a digital health company aimed at helping patients—particularly those with chronic illness—navigate the medical system. Its stated purpose is to bridge the gap between patients and providers, simplify patient preparation for care, and reduce the time it takes for patients to reach a diagnosis.
The platform gives users access to their health records, care plans, and health insights at home, allowing them to track their conditions and share updates with their doctors. AI-powered tools let both patients and providers ask questions about conditions and chart data to interpret complex medical information, and company materials describe an AI symptom checker that returns potential diagnoses and recommended actions. Additional features described include nurse advocates who educate and guide patients through diagnoses, chronic condition management and procedure preparation, and a community feature that connects users facing similar conditions or treatments for peer support and information sharing. The company states it will offer telehealth appointments with clinicians beginning December 2025 and will accept all major health insurance plans. It also publishes a podcast, The Medical Maze, and a blog.
Founding story
Co-founder Sarah Porter, then 28 and living in West Des Moines, Iowa, launched the company in 2022 after her job leading direct sales at a startup ended in October, as part of a wave of laid-off technology workers starting their own businesses. She said a strong mission helped her cope with launching into a shrinking venture market.
Business model
The company operates a consumer-facing digital health platform combined with human clinical support, and also solicits partnerships with clinics through a booking process on its website. It states that telehealth visits will accept all major health insurance plans.
Traction
The company joined the Hatchet Ventures advisory network and was in discussions with angel investors as of April 2023; it planned to begin virtual care appointments in December 2025.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market, geography, history
Market position
An early-stage healthcare startup founded in 2022 that was seeking angel and venture capital in 2023 during a period when U.S. seed-stage investment had declined sharply.
The company positions its offering as a combination of human support—nurse advocates—with AI-based symptom checking and chart interpretation, plus a peer community, delivered in a single platform rather than as separate tools.
Technology
The platform uses artificial intelligence for a symptom checker that assesses user-entered symptoms and suggests potential diagnoses and next steps, and for question-answering over medical charts and conditions for both patients and providers. It also provides health record access, care-plan tracking, telehealth visits and a user community.
Go-to-market
The company markets directly to patients through its website, app and content including blog posts and a podcast, and separately invites clinics interested in working with it to schedule meetings through its site.
Patients managing chronic illness, recovering from surgery or navigating a new diagnosis, along with the clinicians and clinics that treat them.
Geography
The company is based in West Des Moines, Iowa, United States.
History
The company was co-founded by Sarah Porter, who started it after her role leading direct sales at a startup ended in October, and was reported in April 2023 as MedDefend Corp., based in West Des Moines, Iowa. It joined Hatchet Ventures, an advisory network for early-stage startups, and was speaking with angel investors at that time, having postponed some investor conversations in March 2023 amid the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The company has since been rebranded as Boardwalk Health, with the former MedDefend name retained on its website and domain.
Compiled by commissioned research from 8 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Related companies · 7
Companies working in the same space as MedDefend.
Timeline · 3
launches, deals, and filingsThe company states it will offer virtual care appointments with clinicians starting December 2025 and will accept all major health insurance plans.
The company's website presents it as Boardwalk Health, formerly MedDefend.
MedDefend joined Hatchet Ventures, an advisory network that helps early-stage startups raise capital and expand their businesses, while seeking angel investment amid a tightening early-stage funding market.
Dated company events from announcements, filings, and press; legal rows summarize public dockets and regulator releases.
▸Research sources · 8
primary sources listed
- MedDefendmymeddefend.com · web
8 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does MedDefend do?
- Boardwalk Health, formerly MedDefend, is a digital health platform helping chronically ill patients track records and reach diagnoses faster.
- Who are MedDefend's investors?
- MedDefend's investors include Techstars.
- Where is MedDefend headquartered?
- MedDefend is headquartered in West Des Moines, US.