emocha Mobile Health moves to Mount Vernon offices

emocha Mobile Health moved to new offices in Mount Vernon this month, relocating from Johns Hopkins’ FastForward 1812.

The company moved into a 5,000 square-foot space of its own on the 900 block of N. Charles Street from the university’s innovation hub near its medical campus in East Baltimore, where it held offices alongside other companies.

The move comes amid growth for emocha, which offers mobile apps that help patients stick to treatment regimens. CEO Sebastian Seiguer said the number of employees has grown from 13 people in November 2018 to more than 20.

“It was time to get a dedicated location,” he said.

emocha is also seeing increased recognition for how it uses video technology and digital tools to help ensure patients take medication as prescribed. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said last year that a physician or nurse can review a video and work with a patient using a platform such as emocha, then get reimbursed.

“We are beginning to start using emocha with patients who really need help in federally qualified health centers across the country,” Seiguer said.

Along with space for employees as the company grows, the new office will also provide advantages for building culture, providing room for collaboration and communication, Seiguer said. It’s also in the middle of the city, close to coffee shops, businesses and restaurants, as well as Penn Station.

“We wanted to make sure we stayed in Baltimore and we’re really centrally located here,” he said.

The JHU spinout was among the first tenants at FastForward 1812 in 2017, and Seiguer said the connections made at the space with business and government leaders helped open up opportunities for the company. Though it will maintain a presence given that many research studies using the company’s technology are taking place at Hopkins, the move represents a progression that we often see startups make as they grow; just last week, we reported how LifeSprout made a move of its own from FastForward 1812 to new space within the city.

“emocha and FastForward have grown up together, and it’s with a great deal of pride and a tinge of sadness that we watch emocha take the next step,” Brian Stansky, senior director of FastForward, said in a statement. “It’s been a privilege to watch them grow both as a team and as a business.”