A health IT startup that focuses on helping people with chronic conditions change the way they manage their health has raised a $12 million Series C round, according to a company statement. AbilTo CFO Tom Brennan told MedCity News the fundraise would support a sales push to add more health plans to its customer base and expand staff.
HLM Venture Partners led the Series C round, and HLP Partner Yumin Choi joined AbilTo’s board of directors. Returning investors BlueCross BlueShield Venture Partners, .406 Ventures and Sandbox Industries also participated in the financing.
In a phone interview, Brennan said: “We have a national footprint and we’re looking to grow that. We’re using capital to grow our current payer network. We have been working with two national payers — the federal employee program for Blue Cross Blue Shield and Aetna. We will be adding more.”
He declined to get into specific staff number but acknowledged it planned to make a 50 percent increase in its current staff of 62 by the end of the year.
The healthcare startup works with health plans by offering their members eight-week programs to improve recovery by teaching people to better cope with stress, anxiety and sadness through interactive videos or phone conversations. Its programs are geared to people with heart conditions, Type 2 diabetes, postpartum depression, breast cancer and pain management issues, among others.
Participants meet with a clinical social worker and behavior coach separately, once a week, either by phone or in a Web-based video chat.
In March last year it raised a $6 million Series B round.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
Photo: FLickr user Simon Greening
