EmpathEQ

What EmpathEQ does

EmpathEQ is an AI-enabled behavioral analytics platform purpose-built for nursing education and healthcare workforce development. Founded in 2025 and headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, the company emerged from the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub and Venture Lab accelerator. Its core product captures measurable behavioral signals — including empathy, communication, de-escalation, and rapport — from clinical simulation sessions and converts them into structured data, replacing subjective instructor observation with objective feedback. The platform provides immersive scenario simulation, evidence-backed debriefing, cohort-level skill progression tracking, and accreditation-ready reporting aligned to ACEN, CCNE, and NLN standards.

The technology stack centers on simulation-based behavioral signal capture with downstream structured-data generation for debriefing and predictive analytics on skill gaps and retention risk. Target buyers span four personas: nurse educators (primary), HR/workforce development professionals, simulation center professionals, and academic/clinical researchers. The company employs a sales-led, consultative GTM motion — there is no self-service pricing, and all engagement begins with a direct conversation — targeting enterprise nursing programs and healthcare institutions. The revenue model is institutional SaaS subscription, with pricing not publicly disclosed.

The company is at an early commercialization stage with a founding leadership team of Alex Rosenberg (CEO and co-founder), Lucas Consoli (CPO and co-founder), and Jon Monahan (CRO and co-founder). It has completed pilot deployments across 4 sites with 420 hours of simulation data analyzed, reporting a 38% average cohort empathy growth over a six-quarter pilot period. Capital raised to date is grant-based (Ohio Third Frontier and Technology Validation and Startup Fund), with no disclosed institutional venture funding. The customer base, revenue, and geographic footprint remain undisclosed, consistent with a pre-revenue or early-pilot commercial stage.

Name

EmpathEQ

Website

https://empatheq.ai

Company type

Private

Founded year

2025

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

EmpathEQ is an AI platform that captures behavioral signals from clinical simulations to measure and develop empathy, communication, and de-escalation skills in nursing students and healthcare professionals, selling SaaS subscriptions to nursing programs and healthcare institutions.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nursing Education / Healthcare Simulation Software

NAICS

Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Edge-Based Clinical Decision Support & Alerts (On-Device/On-Prem Analytics) (HLACAPAL)

Keywords

• Nursing education software
• Healthcare simulation platform
• Soft skills training
• Behavioral analytics healthcare
• Clinical communication tools

Headquarters

HQ city

Cincinnati

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Educational Technology Platform Subscription: SaaS-based platform subscription model targeting nursing programs and healthcare education institutions. Provides access to simulation tools, behavioral analytics, and reporting capabilities. Billing likely annual for institutional customers.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

EmpathEQ is a SaaS platform that helps nursing programs develop and measure soft skills through clinical simulation. It captures behavioral signals during immersive, clinically authentic scenarios and converts them into structured data covering empathy, communication, de-escalation, and rapport. The platform delivers evidence-backed debriefing, cohort-level skill tracking, and accreditation-ready reporting aligned to ACEN, CCNE, and NLN standards.

Product overview

EmpathEQ is a single unified platform designed for nursing programs to develop and measure the soft skills that shape patient outcomes, clinical confidence, and nurse retention. The platform captures behavioral signals from clinical simulation sessions and converts them into structured data, providing objective feedback on human skills such as empathy, communication, de-escalation, and rapport. It includes features for evidence-backed debriefing, cohort-level skill progression tracking, and accreditation-ready reporting aligned to ACEN, CCNE, and NLN standards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• EmpathEQ Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• 38% average empathy skill growth (cohort average over Q1-Q6 pilot period)
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability4 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• University of Cincinnati - 1819 Innovation Hub and Venture LabcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 March 2026EmpathEQ emerged from the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub and Venture Lab accelerator program. The startup was one of four healthtech startups selected to receive over $600,000 in Ohio state funding through the Technology Validation and Startup Fund and Entrepreneurial Services Provider program. This accelerator partnership provides validation, funding access, and ecosystem support for commercialization of early-stage healthtech technologies.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• CAE Healthcare: CAE Healthcare provides simulation solutions and learning platforms for nursing and allied health programs. It is comparable as a broad incumbent whose installed base at nursing schools represents both a competitive threat and a potential partner/acquirer for EmpathEQ.
• Laerdal Medical: Laerdal is a global incumbent in healthcare simulation, including manikin-based simulation and software like SimCapture used by nursing programs. It is comparable because nursing-program customers already buy simulation tooling from Laerdal, making it the most likely incumbent to bundle behavioral analytics.
• Elsevier Clinical Skills / Shadow Health: Elsevier's nursing-education portfolio (Clinical Skills, Shadow Health digital clinical experiences) targets the same nurse-educator buyer. It is comparable as a broad incumbent with deep penetration into nursing-program purchasing decisions.
• ATI Nursing Education (Ascend Learning): ATI provides assessment, remediation, and NCLEX preparation products sold to nursing schools. It is comparable because it sells into the same nurse-educator decision-makers and could expand into behavioral/soft-skill assessment.
• Wolters Kluwer (vSim for Nursing): Wolters Kluwer's vSim for Nursing is a widely adopted nursing-education simulation product. It is comparable as an incumbent nursing-education platform where behavioral analytics on communication and empathy could be added.

Emerging players

• FundamentalVR: FundamentalVR provides immersive simulation with measurable performance analytics for clinical training. It is comparable as an emerging player applying analytics-driven debriefing to clinical skill development, though focused on procedural rather than communication skills.
• Oxford Medical Simulation: Oxford Medical Simulation offers VR-based clinical simulation scenarios for nursing and medical education. It is an emerging player with overlapping simulation-based training use cases for nursing students.
• Embodied Labs: Embodied Labs uses immersive experiences (VR/AI) to train healthcare workers in empathy and patient experience. It is an emerging player with overlapping soft-skill training use cases for clinicians and caregivers.

Direct peers

• Mursion: Mursion provides AI- and human-driven simulation training for healthcare communication and other interpersonal skills. It is the closest direct peer to EmpathEQ in using immersive simulation to train soft skills with structured feedback.
• Kognito: Kognito builds conversational avatar simulations used in healthcare and nursing education to practice patient communication and behavioral health conversations. It competes with EmpathEQ for nursing-program and health-system training budgets focused on communication skills.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/empatheq

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about EmpathEQ