Ognomy founder Daniel Rifkin on what building in Buffalo means to him
Buffalo’s Ognomy Sleep officially became one of the hottest business stories in town this week when it announced the closure of a $20 million Series A funding round, among the largest rounds in recent memory.
When Ognomy launched five years ago, founder Dr. Daniel Rifkin had a strong vision for the company based on decades of experience as a sleep specialist.
He was also highly motivated because of his personal belief that telemedicine can increase access to this care and help more people get better.
Now those initial ideals are wrapped in an impressive package: Ognomy is live in all 50 states, its platform hosted nearly 85,000 patient visits and the company has a competitive moat as the only comprehensive sleep telemedicine platform in the U.S.
Here are five takeaways from the company’s recent news.
On Ognomy and Buffalo
Ognomy is largely a remote company so its physical presence in Buffalo isn’t always apparent. But Rifkin and most of his 27 employees are based here, and while some sales roles will be hired nationally, the company’s primary headcount growth will continue in Buffalo, he said.
Speaking with Series B, Rifkin was reflective about turning his medical career into a startup career in Buffalo (he still practices), and becoming part of the local innovation economy.
“The people in Buffalo are so eager to help you and it’s easy to feel supported here,” Rifkin said. “I’ve never seen a group of people who are so amazing, who are willing to jump on a phone call and they’ll help me.”
Asked if he’d want to name anyone in particular, Rifkin worried that the list was too numerous to recount at once. But he did point out David Brown of Impellent Ventures and Marnie LaVigne of Launch NY, both of whom invested in the latest round.
He also called Jordan Levy (a board member of the 43North Foundation, which created Series B) as he prepared for this round to get the perspective of an established venture capitalist.
“These are the kind of people, along with others, who I can just jump on a call and they’ll help me,” Rifkin said. “They’ll look at our deck, they’ll share their honest feedback and it makes a huge difference.”
A sleep doctor’s perspective on feedback
Five years ago, Ognomy was a finalist for a 43North investment, but ultimately was not picked as a winner by the judges.
Rifkin has a philosophical perspective on that moment, and all the other times he’s heard investors, customers and others say ‘no.’
“Those ‘nos’ are just as important as the ‘yeses,” Rifkin said. “That’s because many of them say, ‘No, and here’s why.’ That’s the key moment for a startup and a founder. That’s what you need to work on.”
When Series B pointed out that simple statement may be why Rifkin is sitting on a $20M Series A and a company that’s scaled across the U.S., Rifkin agrees.
“It makes you stronger,” he says. “It makes you think more.”
Substantial rounds of funding
It’s no secret – funding activity in Buffalo (and everywhere outside select AI corporations) is down from its sugar high in the immediate wake of the pandemic.
But even in today’s tougher fundraising environment, companies like Ognomy are still squeezing through, showcasing the resilience of the local innovation economy.
Earlier this year, FoodNerd announced a $7.5M round and Viridi has raised more than $20 million this year as well. Guidesly closed on $9.5 million and Vicora raised $3.6 million in 2025. And the year before, Centivo raised $75 million while HelixIntel raised $11 million.
Five takeaways from FoodNerd's $7.5M funding round
Each of these companies has reported substantial success in turning investor cash into traction. They sit on top of dozens of seed round companies through 43North, Launch NY, the University at Buffalo, S2 Ventures, Buffalo Angels and other local investors, not to mention locally-based companies with out-of-region investors.
It’s also worth noting that Abceutics, Verivend and Patient Pattern all had positive exits in recent years.
Launch NY continues to gain momentum
Ognomy's next chapter will focus less on reinventing the platform than on continually improving it while serving many more patients.
It’s been hard to miss Launch NY portfolio companies having strong moments in recent months — led perhaps by its early position in Buffalo-based Azuna, which is closing in on $100M in annual revenue.
Launch NY is a repeat investor in Ognomy, showing faith in the company as it grew out of Buffalo and eventually expanded its model to the entire U.S.
It’s also worth noting that Launch NY will chalk up another year with an exit after portco Exostellar was acquired by Qualcomm a few months ago.
What’s next
Startup leaders have all kinds of answers about what’s next after they raise significant amounts of money.
Rifkin said some conventional things that come along with a Series A round: building out a more robust national sales and marketing funnel, rounding out the Ognomy leadership team, investing in operations and engineering, etc.
But he also emphasized remaining true to the original Ognomy mission – keeping the patient at the center of the experience. Ognomy's next chapter will focus less on reinventing the platform than on continually improving it while serving many more patients.
He mentions AI, but only in terms of patient engagement and workflows, and not anywhere near the clinical care or medical decisions.
He and his team are solving a real problem here.
