KC’s Firebrand invests in Sprint Accelerator alum Sickweather

Kansas City-based investment fund Firebrand Ventures has invested in Sickweather, a Baltimore company that took part in the Sprint Accelerator here in 2014.

Sickweather runs an app that taps social media posts to alert users when colds, the flu and other common ailments are spreading in their neighborhoods. It also uses algorithms to predict outbreaks, said John Fein, managing director of Firebrand.

The company also licenses access to its data for companies seeking to target their marketing for remedies, anti-bacterial products and other items sought during sickness outbreaks.

Fein would not disclose the amount that Firebrand invested in Sickweather but said the fund expects to average about $150,000 in each of the early-stage businesses it supports.

Sickweather founder Graham Dodge had said during his three months at the Sprint Accelerator that he enjoyed Kansas City. Fein said the company plans to open an office here.

“They left the door open to moving their headquarters to Kansas City,” said Fein, who was Techstars’ managing director at the Sprint Accelerator when Sickweather attended.

This story was originally published December 13, 2016 at 5:58 PM with the headline "KC’s Firebrand invests in Sprint Accelerator alum Sickweather."