Okkanti joins Techstars

Karen Laing founded Okkanti in 2022 to address deep gaps in maternal health care and support. Now participating in the Spring 2025 Techstars Columbus accelerator, a highly competitive program that accepts only 1% of applicants, Laing is bringing her bold vision to a national stage.

MKEStartup.News (MSUN) caught up with Laing to learn more about her startup journey and what’s next for Okkanti.

MSUN: How do you describe Okkanti to someone new to your work?

Laing: At its core, Okkanti is a care coordination platform that pregnant individuals to trusted, culturally aligned care. While we started as a marketplace, what we’ve realized is that we’re building an operating system, a collaborative infrastructure designed to help providers serve clients more effectively.

We started to see that service providers are drowning under operational challenges and inefficiencies. These are people doing essential work, but they’re overwhelmed. We’re passionate about supporting collaboration, bringing doulas together with lactation consultants, physical therapists, and … (other professionals). But many of these organizations are so stretched that they can’t even engage in conversations about long-term partnerships or hospital contracts. That’s where Okkanti steps in. We’re building the system that helps them breathe again, and work together.

MSUN: What sets your approach apart from other maternal health solutions?

Laing: Many solutions focus solely on outcomes or access. We’re focused on infrastructure and trust. We help community-based providers manage scheduling, collaboration, and growth—things they’re often too overwhelmed to tackle alone. We’ve already seen incredible traction: one pilot partner doubled their bookings in a quarter using our platform. That tells me we’re solving the right problem.

I’m looking at a moment when our healthcare needs to be innovative—and we need to bring mid-level workers into the workforce, just like managed care tried to do decades ago. But I’m also deeply committed to doing it in a way that doesn’t rely on underpaid care workers.

MSUN: You’ve participated in multiple accelerator and mentorship programs. What has Techstars brought to the table?

Laing: Techstars has been incredibly validating. It’s given me the space to step back and see the company through a lens of strength rather than scarcity. I’ve received feedback and support from leaders who genuinely believe in what we’re building. It’s also helped me solidify Okkanti’s positioning and critical path—shifting from “convincing people a marketplace works” to proving how we solve pain points today.

MSUN: Was it difficult to part with 6% of your company to participate in Techstars?

Laing: It’s always a big decision, but you reach a point where you realize: you can’t do this alone. Techstars provided the validation, connections, and support I needed.

MSUN: What’s next for Okkanti?

Laing: Our Techstars Demo Day is in June, and Okkanti is also a finalist in the Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Contest. But more importantly, we’re scaling partnerships with organizations in Wisconsin and Texas. We’re building the foundation for collaborative care ecosystems—and I’m excited to come home and deepen that work.

To learn more about this company on the rise, connect with Okkanti here.