Health talent startup Humanity Health lands $6 million to address barriers facing underrepresented leaders in healthcare and life sciences

People of color represent less than 15% of executives in the largest US-based healthcare companies even though they represent 40% of the population. Now one startup is on a mission to change this trend by addressing the stubborn barriers to better inclusion.

Enter Humanity Health, a career acceleration and talent sourcing platform for underrepresented leaders in healthcare and life sciences. According to its website, the startup is driving change by diversifying executive leadership and empowering groups at companies that are commonly excluded or underrepresented.

Today, Humanity Health announced it has closed $6 million in Series A funding led by Jumpstart Nova with follow-on participation from Deerfield Management, which provided the initial seed capital for the company’s launch.

Founded in 2021 by Ron Mitchell, Humanity Health unlocks career-accelerating opportunities and introductions for women and people of color. The company also helps our employer partners identify, engage and recruit top diverse healthcare talent and drive more inclusive placement outcomes.

Before founding Humanity Health, Mitchell spent the past two decades building solutions that help people achieve their career potential, he said in a post on LinkedIn. In addition, Mitchell’s first venture, the AlumniAthlete Network, also placed hundreds of student-athletes into careers at top financial service institutions including Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan.

“I am proud to say that 50% of those placements were women and 35% Black and Latinx. In my next venture, CareerCore, we built one of the first tech-enabled remote professional coaching platforms,” Mitchell said.

In a statement,  Kathryne Cooper, a partner with Jumpstart Nova, said: “Humanity Health has recognized that access to skilled, diverse leadership talent is a critical driver of growth, health equity, and innovation in the healthcare sector.”

She also added, “Their innovative and technology-enabled approach to addressing this need through executive recruitment, executive development, and pipeline development is the most comprehensive we have seen in the market.”

Humanity Health will use the new funding to expand its base of C-Suite and executive-level leaders who are members of the Humanity Talent Network (HTN), a private membership community of leaders who identify as women and/or people of color.

Through HTN, each member is matched with their own executive career strategist and delivered opportunities such as board positions, executive roles, and investor introductions that are personalized to their expertise and preferences. Members are also invited to join Collectives, curated small group forums of subject matter experts engaging around career advancement, thought leadership, mentorship, and collaboration. HTN is powered by native mobile applications developed by the company.

“We are extremely excited to have Jumpstart Nova join the Humanity Health family. It is exciting to have investors that both intimately understand the healthcare market and have a proven commitment to DEI as investors,” says Ron Mitchell, co-founder and CEO of Humanity Health. “Combined with Deerfield Management, we now have two of the most deeply connected and successful investors in healthcare to support our growth with capital, expertise, and access.”

The fundraise will also allow Humanity Health to help companies across the healthcare and life sciences industries connect with highly qualified and talented women and people of color for leadership positions.

“From the outset, we were excited by the mission of Humanity Health,” says Heather Wasielewski-Lopez, Chief People Officer at Evergreen Nephrology. “Our organization has a true commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion. We were looking for a partner with a similar ethos that could execute at the scale and speed we needed. We found that in Humanity Health.”