Employer wellness plan Keas, which brings together a social network with personal health challenges, has raised more than $7.4 million. Employers’ interest in adopting wellness plans to encourage cost savings to improve their bottom lines has been growing. The digital health company’s fundraising move was listed in a Form D filing with the SEC this week.
Keas has raised a total of $32.9 million from four investors since 2009, according to data from CrunchBase. It cited Atlantic Investors and Ignition Partners as the source of the fresh funding, although the filing said three investors participated in the financing. Atlas Venture has participated in three rounds of funding for the company, including an $8 million Series B last year. Ignition Partners also participated in the Series B.
The social network component of Keas’ platform is critical to making employer wellness plans work, CEO Josh Stevens suggested in an interview with MedCity News earlier this year. “If you and I are on a team and the incentive is gated by us both keeping the goal, I will help you because we both want to meet the goal. It’s giving consumers tools they can use, tied in with incentives.”
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Among the requirements Keas asks of corporate customers are: All employees have to participate and companies must offer online access to the program. A partnership with LabCorp lets Keas users measure and track specific health indicators and make that information a part of individual fitness plans and corporate Health Reimbursement Account plans.
Keas’ corporate customers include Safeway, Target, Wix, The Cheesecake Factory, Pfizer, Reed Elsevier, BAE Systems, Pandora, Valeant Pharmaceuticals and KLA-Tencor.
A Rand Corp report was skeptical of the benefits of corporate wellness programs unless employers target employees who already have chronic diseases. Having a strong disease management component that produces results such as reducing readmissions is key.