It’s been less than a year since SparkHaus opened its doors. Even before renovations were complete, local interest was high for the collaborative space developed by Northern Kentucky’s innovation hub Blue North and designed to support tech innovators and founders.
Now that many founders have made SparkHaus their home, word has spread. People from all over the country are hearing about the space — and about Northern Kentucky’s potential for economic development and growth. They are also learning more about the community as an affordable, friendly and accessible place to work and live.
Startups from as far away as California and Texas have put SparkHaus on their radar. Some have come for a visit and have made the decision to relocate. Businesses that have been primarily remote operations have come to SparkHaus looking for a homebase where they can work together and meet face to face.
Covington Business Council: Supporting the journey
The Covington Business Council (CBC) Foundation recognized the growing interest and worked with Blue North to develop a fellowship opportunity for those interested in joining SparkHaus and the community. The fellowship provides a six-month membership in the Covington Business Council with a stipend that covers the cost of space in SparkHaus during that period.
Executive Director Pat Frew said the fellowship also covers the costs for three of the council’s monthly networking luncheons where founders are introduced to those who may be able to provide services, direction and support for their journey.
The council foundation offers 10 fellowships a year (five fellowships, twice a year). Founders can make an application on the council’s website. Blue North staff choose the recipients with an eye toward helping those making the move from outside our region.
Frew said the council sees the fellowship as a way to bring in new people and ideas.
“We think more transformation will happen in the city with all these new ideas flowing from people, outside the region particularly. We’re hoping that it has a dramatic effect on economic development and creates a growing, exciting new generation,” Frew said.
While joining the local chamber of commerce or business organization was pretty much a given in the past, many today, especially younger people, are forming relationships that are almost entirely virtual. Frew said he and others on the council believe there is still great value in meeting and getting to know people face-to-face. The fellowship is an effort to support those relationships.
“We need to continue to create an environment where they see the value of meeting in person…We’re almost confrontational about how we want people to engage. We want them to connect. We want them to meet people. Northern Kentucky is a fabulous area, maybe stronger than any other place in the region, where people connect and willingly give of themselves to others…So, that’s what we’re trying to convey through this program, not just through funding the scholarship…but also by making the connections that can help them and hopefully get them moving on the right trajectory,” said Frew.
FwdSlash: Expanding into a new market
One of the recipients of the CBC Fellowship is FwdSlash, an innovative healthcare equity startup. Founded in 2020 with a mission to address disparities in the delivery of healthcare, the company focuses on helping the most vulnerable patients — unhoused people in need of healthcare services. They provide coordination, data analysis and streamline connections between healthcare systems and community-based organizations.
They had developed projects and pilots in West Virginia, California, Washington and North Carolina before launching a new project in Northern Kentucky.
Ramon Llamas has a background in public health and joined FwdSlash as a community strategist to help with expansion into the region. The company focuses first on helping people to secure housing, he said.
From there, the company partners with community organizations that help connect clients to Medicaid and other resources including food, transportation and whatever else they need. The FwdSlash program runs 18 months, but the plan is to put clients in a good position to continue to move forward well into the future.
Stabilizing patients through housing and access to care can improve health outcomes, and it helps cut costs for providers and insurers by reducing emergency room visits.
FwdSlash has support from national insurer WellCare and locally partners with Northkey Community Care for Medicaid and with Welcome House for housing and case management.
After some difficulty reaching Northern Kentucky property owners and managers from his location in Durham, North Carolina, Llamas said he decided to visit Northern Kentucky in person in September 2024. That visit changed everything.
“I decided if FwdSlash was going to be successful…, I wanted to be on the ground and embedded, because there’s a lot of relationship stuff that happens in between meetings,” he said.
“That’s why I decided to move, but, honestly, I feel I’m living in my ideal living situation…I got rid of my car last fall because I can walk pretty much to get all my needs met. I’m bumping into people and building those relationships in an informal context, and it’s been really helpful,” he added.
As SparkHaus was being built, Llamas said he often worked in Hotel Covington where he met the Blue North team. They introduced him to Frew and encouraged him to apply for a council foundation fellowship.
“Pat has been very gracious in trying to connect me and other fellows to people that we want to talk to. We’ve been highlighted in a few different networking lunches…It’s a little bit more than just a membership. …They’re really doing that extra thinking of who do we know that could be helpful to Ramon or any other fellow?”
Joining SparkHaus offered Llamas a unique opportunity to meet people and make connections early in his move. Being in a smaller city with a vibrant and accessible business community has been key to getting established and hitting the ground running, he said.
Cortechs AI: Going where the talent is
Cortechs.ai is a quantitative medical imaging company. Founded in 1996 by a pioneer in the field of MRI/CT technology, Cortechs has become a world leader in the development and use of volumetric post-processing software for research. Over the years, the company has expanded its applications of AI to assist in the detection of cancer in scans of both the brain and the prostrate.
The company recently moved its main headquarters from San Diego to Northern Kentucky and made SparkHaus its home.
Kyle Frye, a Fort Thomas resident, became CEO two years ago. At first he commuted to the headquarters in California when necessary. Yet, he said, many team members were working remotely across the country and a growing number of staff members were located within our region. As the business was expanding, he suggested the move, and the company’s board agreed.
“It seemed like a great fit to move Cortechs officially into SparkHaus…If we need to hire and grow, there’s plenty of talent around here. I also wanted to bring more continuity and have more team members based here versus all over the U.S. We have a strong group of individuals in the healthcare world who have great experience,” said Frye.
He noted the many medical technology and related software companies in the area that have attracted a pool of talented people. Northern Kentucky is a great place to be as a growing organization as it shifts to a new era, he said.
“There’s a great energy in SparkHaus. We have an office space within. If we need to have that quiet time we do, and, if we need to work out in the open because we just want to feel that energy, we can do that… I go in every day. Our head of sales is based here, too. He comes in every day. We’re here, but then other team members will come in once a week, and it’s great…There’s some good vibrancy happening here.”
Definity: Bringing the team together
Definity is a vendor-neutral healthcare workforce management platform. It unifies and integrates workforce functions to allow hospitals and healthcare systems to plan and manage their talent pool more efficiently.
“The whole goal is to give our healthcare partners better visibility into their labor, spending, usage, better analytics. Healthcare systems have a huge problem. There’s a staffing shortage all over the country. Labor is their biggest expense that they face, and what we’re trying to do is give them better visibility so they can make better decisions. The use of external labor is very expensive, so we’re trying to give them better tools to use,” said CEO Kris Cannon.
“We’ve got a gig component within Definity that can enable them to use more just in time staffing. So, we’re trying to help them create different pools of labor that are less expensive but still get high quality clinicians to the bedside to deliver world-class patient care,” he added.
Founders of the company were involved in healthcare and wanted to develop a platform designed specifically for their industry. After gathering insight from hospitals and other healthcare providers, Definity launched their product officially in 2025. Soon after the launch, they garnered support from Bon Secours Mercy Health, one of the top 20 healthcare systems in the U.S.
Until the company made its home at SparkHaus, their entire team worked remotely. Cannon lives here and said a number of employees live in and around the region. He said moving into SparkHaus was a great decision. Bringing his team together has helped establish a strong and collaborative work culture.
“When you can work closely with people, when you can partner, when you can sit across from them and have lunch and have a cup of coffee down at Better Blends, it helps us really grow our culture. It’s the company we want to be, working side by side with one another. And SparkHaus is such a cool space. Our employees love going there. They love being a part of it,” Cannon said.
“The city of Covington, the state of Kentucky, are great partners to new organizations, to small businesses, to start ups. They go out of their way to accommodate you…SparkHaus is fantastic if you’re looking for a space where you can collaborate with people who are facing similar challenges … If you’re looking for a place to grow and develop in a space that your employees will really love, SparkHaus checks all of those boxes…It’s been fantastic for our growth, and we’re excited to be a part of this community.”
For more about Northern Kentucky’s innovation hub Blue North go to bluenorthky.com. For information or a tour of SparkHaus see the website at sparkhaus.co.
