Fruit Street Health, a telehealth startup with a joint venture with VSee, has raised $5.4 million in the past year from 120 physicians a crowdfunding push, according to an amended Form D filing with the U.S. Securities and Trade Commission.
In November, Fruit Street announced it had raised $4 million from 60 physicians. The amended filing shows it has raised an additional $1.4 million since then from 50 more doctors. Its approach is designed to enable physicians to offer telehealth to their patients and provide a portal for patients to manage data from medical devices and wearables.
In a phone interview with CEO and Founder Laurence Girard, he said the funding would be used to more fully develop apps for Android and iOS networks as part of a platform that provides nutrition consults, weight management and diabetes management. Its app helps users de-silo data from fitness trackers and FDA-cleared devices from iHealth Labs and other vendors so users can view their aggregated data through its apps. It also allows users to share that data with physicians.
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Girard said it plans to conduct clinical trials in the third or fourth quarter with Fitbit to assess the effectiveness of its platform with the national diabetes prevention program. A group using its technology platform for the program will be compared with a group that receives care in person.
On the question of new hires, Girard added that Fruit Street would use some of the funding to add five staff, mostly in product development.
Asked for examples of how institutions used its technology, Girard cited its work with the University of Michigan for weight management and diabetes management.
Girard noted that the 120 physicians that backed the company in this funding round span 15 medical specialties such as bariatric surgery, oncology, cardiology and family medicine. In addition to the U.S., physicians use its telemedicine platform in other countries, including Australia, Singapore, the UK and Ireland.
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Prior to Fruit Street, launched two years ago, Girard led Prevently. Investors in this previous company are among the shareholders in Fruit Street.
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