Local Venture Capital Fund Makes First Investment

Gateway Capital Partners, a Milwaukee-based venture capital firm, announced its first investment after successfully raising $13.5 million earlier this year.

Led by Dana Guthrie, Gateway invested $400,000 in Tip a ScRxipt, an under-development platform for people to send or request money when they have difficulty paying out-of-pocket for medications.

The company plans to offer a social payment application for sending and receiving funds as well as issuing debit cards for people to cover out-of-pocket expenses. The card could only be used for prescription medication, medical supplies and medical equipment at pharmacies.

Milwaukee-native Chad Johnson launched the business in 2020 and plans to go live in 2022.

Tip a ScRxipt also raised an additional $100,000 in seed funding from gener8tor, a Milwaukee-based accelerator.

“The more than 58 million Americans that report difficulty paying for medical expenses lets us know this isn’t just a low income community issue,” Johnson said in a press release. “Through Tip a ScRxipt we can help solve a major, nationwide issue and hopefully prevent Americans – even those with health insurance – from being forced to stretch their medications or go without completely.”

Johnson was inspired to launch the business after seeing his mother lose her retiree health care insurance and face out-of-pocket medication costs that jumped from $20 per month to more than $400 per month.

Prior to the fundraising round, Johnson guided the business through The Blueprint, a business accelerator led by Young Enterprising Accelerator, the Northwestern Mutual Black Founder Accelerator and also won second place in the Summerfest Tech pitch competition.

Gateway Capital is a portfolio fund of Wisconsin’s Badger Fund of Funds and is focused on investing in pre-revenue startups in Milwaukee that impact low and moderate income communities.

“At Gateway Capital, we are committed to investing in high-growth potential startups at the early stages,” said Guthrie. “With the ever-increasing cost of medical expenses, Tip a ScRxipt has a large market opportunity. Chad is a problem-solver and is designing a product to mutually benefit both patients and the healthcare industry. We are excited to be investing in his vision and are optimistic about Tip a ScRxipt’s potential.”