Ben Sever (second from top left), CEO of Champa Bay Sports and eRemede; Trip Harlan (top, far-right), chairman of Quantum Evolution; and JJ Massaro (bottom left), VP of strategic partnerships and community engagement at the 2022 Synapse Summit. Photos provided.
Tampa-based serial entrepreneur Ben Sever, CEO of health technology startup eRemede and branding company Champa Bay Sports, is once again expanding his business portfolio in the bay area, through new partnerships with Quantum Evolution Enterprises and the NFL Alumni.
Sever founded eRemede three years ago to offer patients in Florida a secure telehealth platform. The health engagement platform provides instant communication and aftercare tools, along with personalized appointment reminders and a multimedia resource library.
A pilot version of eRemede launched about 18 months ago. Sever, a graduate of the Tampa Bay Wave incubator, said the company has raised nearly $2 million since its inception. The platform recently became available on the Android App Store, and Sever said it is coming to Apple’s App Store next week.
“We’re one of the top-10 mobile patient engagement platforms,” said Sever. “We look at us as the salesforce of patient engagement.”
As part of eRemede’s expansion efforts, Sever announced a new partnership with Quantum Evolution (QE). St. Petersburg-based QE is a corporate wellness enterprise, and Sever called its relationship with Champa Bay Sports (CBS) a “semi-merger.” CBS and QE held a co-launching event at the Tampa Club Feb. 22, with all ticket proceeds going to the companies’ corporate social responsibility partner – the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
While the companies may seem unrelated, Sever said it was always a goal to create an integrated portfolio of emerging industries. He called the integration of CBS and QE a “perfect marriage.”
“Health, wellness, sports and innovation are timeless industries, so it’s a privilege to empower their cohesion within our booming ecosystem,” he said. “Each entity is purpose-driven and community-centric as well, which Tampa instills in its emerging leaders.”
Trip Harlan, chairman of QE, said people typically see wellness as a service as a two-dimensional “cookie-cutter” program consisting of just exercise and diet routines. QE, he said, is pioneering vitality and a holistic approach to whole-body health.
The QE principle is that diet, exercise, cognitive fitness, bio-optimization – designing treatments around biological criteria – and personal agility combine to create vitality. Harlan said QE’s pilot program featured NFL athletes, entrepreneurs and chronic-illness patients, and he believes integrating with Sever’s companies will expedite local and national growth.
The strategic alliance with eRemede also allows QE to provide certifications, educational resources and wellness coaches for corporations and data analytics.
“Whether you’re an athlete wanting our platform for personal health tracking or a corporation empowering human resources with mobile, secure tailored wellness,” said Sever. “Engagement and analytics is the wave of the future, and I’m glad QE chose us as their vendor.”
Sever initially launched CBS as a sports retail brand and explained it quickly transformed into a four-pillar enterprise. The four pillars are altruistic apparel, community cohesion, pioneering philanthropy and motivational media. He noted that the region’s nickname, Champa Bay, was adopted following the success of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Lightning and Rays, but said it also encompasses several other aspects of the community.
Sever said Tampa Bay is also a champion in healthcare, academia, entrepreneurship, economic development, innovation and military enterprises. While CBS recently took a step back to reevaluate, said Harlan, the mission and company goals remain the same.
JJ Massaro, vice president of strategic partnerships and community impact, said a wholesaling arm of CBS – Champa Bay Customs – is in the works and will offer companies several different types of branded merchandise. He explained that its corporate clients would not only support a local company for their branding needs, but a percentage of proceeds will also benefit the company’s charity of choice.
Giving back to the community is a bedrock principle for all of his companies, said Sever. In November, CBS received the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s 2021 Ignite Award at the nonprofit’s Light the Night event for its philanthropic efforts.
Both CBS and QE have also recently partnered with the Tampa Bay chapter of NFL Alumni. The organization, comprised of retired players, coaches and executives, assists players in life after football. Founded in 1967, NFL Alumni also focuses on raising funds for youth-related charities. According to its website, the nonprofit raises about $1.5 million annually through its 35 regional chapters.
Sever said that members of NFL Alumni attended the companies’ co-launching event, and in addition to cross-promotion, the organization will utilize eRemede and QE’s health protocols. The three groups are also teaming up on community and health-related initiatives throughout Tampa Bay.
“Everything that we do goes back to our mission, which is wanting to help the community any way we can,” said Massaro.
