How One Procurement Leader Turned Industry Frustration into a Global Company

Born in New Brunswick, MedReddie is transforming heathcare procurement

When Kara LeBlanc graduated from St. Francis Xavier University with a business degree, she wasn't planning to become a founder of a venture-backed startup. She was simply looking for a job.

A temporary position as a purchasing agent at Horizon’s Saint John Regional Hospital became her entry point into healthcare procurement. Kara’s rise was swift, progressing from Manager of Procurement at age 25, where she led large teams and multi-million-dollar contracts, into senior leadership across the provincial healthcare system. What began as a short-term role turned into a 12-year career that would ultimately spark the idea behind MedReddie, a company now helping healthcare organizations across the globe accelerate how they buy critical equipment, technology and services.

Throughout those early years, Kara uncovered a deeper truth: procurement was never just about buying equipment, software, or services - it was about what those tools unlocked for clinicians. She listened to doctors and nurses explain how a single piece of technology would allow them to treat more patients, offer new therapies, or recruit top-tier medical talent. Securing the right medical products was directly tied to saving lives and empowering healthcare professionals.

Yet, she noticed a glaring challenge: while clinical tools were rapidly evolving, virtually nothing was being created to innovate the procurement process itself.

It currently takes six to 12+ months to write a fair, equitable, comprehensive, and up-to-date RFP for healthcare products, services, and software. This massive administrative hurdle significantly extends acquisition and implementation timelines before products ever reach actual patients. It creates a frustrating barrier for medical professionals and results in longer, unacceptable waiting periods for patients seeking care. Kara cared deeply about fixing this broken system.

"At the heart of it," she shared, "it's about patient access."

Kara LeBlanc (front-centre), with the MedReddie team in September 2026.

Building a Better Way

The turning point came during Kara's Master's degree in International Supply Chain Management through the University of Salford in Manchester United Kingdom.

While researching value-based procurement and interviewing healthcare leaders around the world, she realized the problem wasn’t unique to New Brunswick. It was global.

"Everybody was struggling with the same exact problem," she said.

While working full-time and raising a young family, Kara began building. At first, it was little more than an idea and a clickable PowerPoint prototype. She entered startup programs, applied for small grants, collected feedback, and refined concepts.

"There was something burning inside me," she remembers thinking, “we can't keep doing the same thing over and over."

With all the data pointing clearly to the global potential, Kara decided to quit her job and take the leap to build MedReddie. But, bringing MedReddie to life wasn't a linear path of easy milestones. It meant operating with relentless persistence, existing in a terrain of uncertainty, and experiencing joy all at the exact same time. The goal wasn't just to launch a product, but to carefully craft a solution. That meant discovering the platform as it unfolded - consulting continuously with customers, domain experts, developers, and mentors, and having the agility to change it as they were making it.

The vision eventually became MedReddie.

Today, the Saint John-founded company has developed what Kara describes as a global AI copilot for healthcare procurement.

Healthcare organizations and group purchasing companies can use the platform to generate net new evaluation criteria for anything they need to procure with customized regulatory requirements tailored to their country. The tool also assists in developing contract terms, access market intelligence and compare total cost of ownership analysis with greater confidence and consistency.

What used to take weeks or months, can now happen in minutes. MedReddie reduces the RFP cycle by more than 50%.

But for Kara, technology isn't the point. Impact is.

And those goals are what MedReddie hopes to help clinicians achieve.

People Before Product

If you ask Kara what she's most proud of - the answer isn't the technology, the funding, or the international expansion.

It's the people.

Kara brought on top-tier talent like Steve Fyke and Erik Huebner, whose expertise and belief laid MedReddie's foundation as the company grew across North America. 

"Forming this team has been the most rewarding part of building MedReddie," Kara shared. "They are brilliant, world-class, compassionate team members who share our mission to transform healthcare procurement and improve patient access worldwide."

Today, MedReddie has grown to six employees alongside software development and sales talent across Canada and the United States.

That emphasis on people extends beyond the company itself.

Kara’s demeanor changes and a strong appreciation comes across when she speaks about the support she's received from her husband, children, parents and grandparents.

Building a startup comes with uncertainty, long hours, and sacrifice. But it also requires belief.

"My family is my foundation, and I’m so grateful for their support," she said, with a great sense of pride in her voice.

Built in New Brunswick

For Kara, one of the most powerful aspects of the journey is where it's happening. Not in Silicon Valley, but in Canada and in New Brunswick – serving a global clientele.  

Support from organizations including NBIF, The National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program, ACOA, Opportunities New Brunswick, The Firehood, BDC, Forum Ventures and MaRS, helped MedReddie move from concept to company, while local advisors, mentors and investors helped open doors and provide guidance along the way.

Those relationships proved that ambitious companies can be built here. The company recently announced a new client and partnership with Health Proc Europe Association, an organization representing approximately 5,000 hospitals throughout Europe. It's the kind of milestone many founders dream about.

“New Brunswick's local innovation network and venture capital ecosystem have been integral to our strategic growth. Beyond offering an extraordinary quality of life, this province proves every day that you can launch a world-changing, global company right here from home."

As MedReddie expands into international markets and continues building the future of healthcare procurement, Kara hopes the company's story serves as a reminder to other aspiring founders.

You don't need to leave home to make a global impact.

Sometimes the biggest ideas begin by solving a problem right in front of you.

And sometimes, the solutions being adopted by thousands of hospitals around the world are being built right here in our own backyard.

Full Circle Moments

Today, Kara’s trajectory has come full circle, from getting her first taste of entrepreneurship through St.F.X’s Advancing Canadian Entrepreneurship program where her team pitched new business ideas, to having a global business case study published on her journey through the university via Ivey Publishing: Kara LeBlanc and MedReddie: Navigating Growth in a Health Tech Start-Up (W49802), distributed through Harvard Business Impact and The Case Centre.