Grant Verstandig
Grant Verstandig is the Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, and a Board Member at Andesite. He is also the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Red Cell Partners.
Mr. Verstandig founded Red Cell to launch and scale disruptive technology-led healthcare, defense, and cyber companies that would have a positive and indelible impact on society and future generations to come. An incubation and investment firm, Red Cell builds businesses from the ground up, providing critical support to help them develop their MVPs, establish product-market fit and customer traction, and prepare for market launch and long-term success. Today, the firm has a purpose-built portfolio of almost 20 companies – 13 of which were built internally – and has raised nearly half a billion dollars across the firm and its incubations.
Red Cell was born out of Mr. Verstandig’s personal experiences, first as a patient and later as a healthcare executive. A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. Verstandig aspired to be a doctor, attending Brown University. But after injuring his right knee and undergoing multiple surgeries, he came to understand the systemic issues plaguing the U.S. healthcare system and set out to address them. He dropped out of Brown and, in 2010, founded Rally Health, a consumer-centric digital health company that empowers Americans to make better healthcare decisions. In 2017, UnitedHealth Group acquired Rally in one of the largest digital health exits ever. From 2017 to 2021, Mr. Verstandig was UnitedHealth Group’s Chief Digital Officer, responsible for the strategic direction, governance, and performance of digital platforms. He now serves as a Senior Advisor to UHG’s CEO.
Mr. Verstandig is a serial entrepreneur who has co-founded multiple businesses that have gone on to achieve tremendous success, including several Red Cell portfolio companies that, as of Q1’25, have raised a combined total of nearly $240M in funding. Among these businesses are insights company DEFCON AI – which, in 2024, raised one of the largest defense-tech seed rounds ever, led by Bessemer Venture Partners – and cyber company Andesite, co-developed by Red Cell and General Catalyst. In addition, Mr. Verstandig is the co-founder and CEO of Red Cell incubation Trase Systems, an AI agent platform that has repeatedly topped the GAIA leaderboard for general AI assistants, outperforming agents from companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Google. He is also the co-founder of Epirus, a defense-technology company developing high-power microwave systems to protect warfighters against threats, which, to date, has raised more than half a billion dollars in funding.
Mr. Verstandig, who holds patents in advanced analytics, technology, and artificial intelligence, is a former senior advisor to the National Security Agency and a member of the Aspen Institute’s Cybersecurity Group, the nation’s leading cross-sector public-private cyber security forum; the Aspen Institute’s Foreign Ministers Program; and the Aspen Global Digital Program.
Mr. Verstandig is a philanthropist and civic leader, supporting various causes through the Verstandig Family Foundation, like VETSⓇ (Veterans Exploring Treatment Solutions), the National Cryptologic Foundation, and The Opportunity Network. In addition, he is a member of the National Council for American Enterprise and serves on the boards of the Third Option Foundation, the International Spy Museum, and the Greater Washington Partnership, where he is a founding member. Mr. Verstandig is a proud supporter of Greater Washington, D.C., area hospitals, including Children’s National Hospital, Inova, and MedStar-Georgetown.