Pear Suite, a digital health platform empowering community health workers (CHWs) and care teams to address the social drivers of health, was named the winner in the Health Tech Payer/Provider Artificial Intelligence track at the 2025 MedCity INVEST Pitch Perfect competition in Chicago.
Hosted by MedCity News and held in partnership with the Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network, the annual INVEST conference brings together healthcare leaders, investors, and innovators from across the country. Pear Suite was selected as the winner from a competitive pool of startups after pitching its community health navigation platform to a panel of expert judges from leading health systems, payers, and venture funds.
“We’re incredibly honored to be recognized by MedCity INVEST,” said Colby Takeda, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Pear Suite. “This award underscores the growing importance of community-based care and the need for scalable, person-centered solutions that address health equity.”
Pear Suite’s win marks another milestone in the company’s rapid national growth. The platform enables CHWs to conduct social needs screenings, deliver culturally relevant health education, and connect individuals to community resources while simplifying documentation, streamlining billing, and supporting workforce development. To date, they’ve partnered with more than 200 community-based organizations.
Reflecting on the role of technology in enabling community health workers, Pear Suite Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Nick Lockett said the company is “building AI tools into the platform to automate scheduling, compliance and note-taking,” in an effort to reduce administrative burdens and allow CHWs to focus more on client care.
Pear Suite continues to expand across the U.S., working with partners including managed care organizations, community-based organizations, and state agencies to improve outcomes and reduce costs through social care innovation.
About MedCity INVEST Pitch Perfect
MedCity INVEST Pitch Perfect is a national startup competition held during the MedCity INVEST conference, one of the premier healthcare innovation events in the U.S. Hosted by MedCity News in partnership with the Mid-America Healthcare Investors Network (MHIN), the competition features top early- and growth-stage companies across biotech, health tech, diagnostics, and digital health. Finalists are selected to pitch live in front of investors, strategic partners, and healthcare leaders, with winners chosen based on innovation, business model, market potential, and impact on the healthcare ecosystem.
About Pear Suite
Pear Suite is on a mission to empower community health workers (CHWs) through its care navigation and billing platform, training, advocacy, and a nationwide provider network of over 700 CHWs. The Pear Suite platform enables CHWs, care navigators, promotores, and doulas to track and manage social needs screenings, care navigation, health education, and resource referrals provided to clients to address social drivers of health while billing for those services in states where Medicaid reimbursement is available.
To learn more about how Pear Suite is enabling community-based organizations and community health workers with technology, visit www.PearSuite.com.
