By Counterforce Health Team — 19 Jun 2025

CounterForce Health Wins Big at the Grep-a-Palooza 2025

Inside the journey of Counterforce Health's championship moment and what it means for healthcare advocacy

Counterforce Health just won both the Audience Choice award and the top investor prize at Grep-a-Palooza, I wanted to share the inside story of this incredible moment and what comes next.

The Pitch That Changed Everything

Standing before hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs, and industry leaders at North Carolina's premier tech conference wasn't just another presentation, it was our chance to articulate why healthcare advocacy desperately needs an AI revolution. Among 18 leading startups competing for recognition, we knew we had something special, but the response exceeded even our highest expectations.

Our message was clear and urgent: while health insurers have weaponized AI to deny claims more efficiently, patients and healthcare providers are still fighting back with outdated, manual processes that cost over $43 per appeal and require 2-4 hours of grueling paperwork. We've flipped that equation entirely.

The Numbers That Won Hearts and Minds

When we revealed our breakthrough metrics on stage, you could feel the energy shift in the room:

Cost reduction: From $43 to 2 cents per claim appeal
Time efficiency: From 2-4 hours to 2 minutes of processing
Scale potential: Our prize money alone can fund 250,000 patient appeals
Real impact: Addressing the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in America

But beyond the impressive efficiency gains, what resonated most with both the audience and judges was the human story behind these numbers. Every denied claim represents a person facing not just illness, but the additional trauma of fighting for basic healthcare access.

The Moment of Victory

When beloved tech godfather Joe Colopy, the visionary behind the $200 million Bronto Software success, walked toward our CEO Neal with that packed briefcase, the entire conference erupted. The distinguished panel of judges, Jan Davis, Zakiya Alta Lee, and Timothy McLoughlin saw beyond our technology to the transformative potential of democratizing healthcare advocacy. Their recognition validates months of hard work and reinforces our belief that AI should empower patients, not exploit them.

This win energizes our entire team, but more importantly, it accelerates our ability to help patients when they need it most. Medical debt doesn't just strain family finances, it destroys lives. When cancer patients have to choose between treatment and bankruptcy, our healthcare system has failed at its most fundamental level.

Our AI powered advocacy platform represents a David-and-Goliath moment in healthcare. Insurance companies may have sophisticated algorithms for denying claims, but now patients and providers have equally powerful tools to fight back. It's technological equity in action.

Competing at Grep-a-Palooza showcased why our region is rapidly becoming the East Coast's premier innovation hub. The combination of world-class research universities, deep talent pools, and a collaborative ecosystem focused on solving real-world problems creates the perfect environment for social impact ventures like ours.

Unlike Silicon Valley's "move fast and break things" mentality, the Research Triangle approach emphasizes thoughtful innovation that addresses systemic challenges. We're not just disrupting for disruption's sake—we're building solutions that make healthcare more accessible and equitable.

The Work Ahead

While the briefcase photo will always be an incredible memory, the real work starts now. Our team is more determined than ever to scale our platform so we can help millions of patients across America get the care they deserve. Every day we're not at full scale means patients are suffering through unnecessary claim denial battles.

The path forward includes:

Expanding our AI capabilities to handle more complex appeal scenarios
Building partnerships with healthcare providers and patient advocacy groups
Scaling our technology to serve patients nationwide
Continuing to iterate based on real-world feedback from users

The briefcase full of cash isn't really about the money. It's about the promise it represents: that technology can be deployed with compassion, that AI can advocate for patients rather than against them, and that systemic healthcare problems can be solved when the right team applies the right tools with the right intentions.

Thank You to Our Ecosystem

None of this would be possible without the incredible support network that surrounds mission driven ventures in the Research Triangle. From the GrepBeat team who featured our work to the judges who recognized our potential, this victory belongs to our entire community. Special gratitude goes to everyone who's supported our journey, advisors, early users, fellow entrepreneurs, and the patients whose stories drive us forward every single day. We're back in our offices, energized by this recognition and more committed than ever to building a better future for healthcare advocacy. Every patient deserves a fighting chance against denied claims, and we're going to make sure they have the tools to win that fight.

For 250,000 patients and counting, the promise has been made. Now it's time to deliver. Learn more about CounterForce Health at: https://www.counterforcehealth.org/