Health IT, Startups

HealthX Ventures closes $20M+ fund, offers glimpse of investment strategy

HealthX Ventures was founded by Mark Bakken, who previously founded Nordic Systems, which works with hospitals and healthcare organizations more than 40 states.

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HealthX Ventures, the Madison, Wisconsin-based venture capital firm founded by Managing Partner Mark Bakken, has closed its HealthX Ventures Fund I, raising more than $20 million, a news release on the company’s website said. The investment firm has made five investments in health IT through the fund to date. The news offers a window into the VC firm’s investment strategy and a glimpse of some healthcare entrepreneurs in the Midwest.

HealthX backs companies in the early stages and it tends to take part in these startups’ first rounds of funding.

“There are enormous opportunities for using technology to improve how healthcare is delivered and paid for,” Bakken said in the news release. “Our fund supports companies solving hard problems that will not only lower the cost of healthcare, but also improve the lives of clinicians, patients, and their families.”

Prior to HealthX, Bakken founded Nordic Systems, an advisory firm supporting healthcare facilities using Epic.

Two of these health tech startups are Madison-based companies. The portfolio companies reflect the strong interest in using APIs to share data and remote monitoring technology to identify the kinds of problems that can lead to readmission when they go undetected.

Redox, a business formed by former employees of Epic Systems, developed a way to use APIs to support integration of software tools by health systems’ disparate electronic health records. The business has grown its profile considerably in the past 12 months, according to Co-founder and President Niko Skievaski. He told MedCity News that the company has expanded from six to 27 staff in one year and was working with more than 30 health systems, as of the end of September.

EnsoData developed a clinician facing tool to automate data collection for sleep studies through a machine learning software-as-a-service. But the SaaS description in the news release suggests that it can be applied to other clinical data collection needs by medical devices and clinicians.

Moving Analytics developed a way to support cardiac rehab from home based on a program developed by Stanford University and Kaiser Permanente. The goal is to boost and maintain enrollment in these rehab programs by making it easier for patients to enroll.

HealthiPASS is a Chicago company that seeks to simplify patient check-in and payments through automation. It also provides a way to give patients a better understanding of their costs when they check int0 a doctor’s office.

Epharmix in St. Louis developed a platform that combines triage with patient outreach to follow-up by phone and by email with the sickest 20 percent of the patient population through disease-specific interventions, the news release noted.

In addition to investments made by the firm, Bakken has personally backed other health IT companies, such as WellBe. The startup raised $2.4 million in January last year. The business is designed to prep orthopedic surgery patients get ready for their procedures with relevant video content, articles and other interactive content in manageable amounts The idea behind Wellbe’s Guided CarePaths is to provide enough information to patents so they don’t get overwhelmed but understand what is happening to them and help them through the recovery process.

Photo: Flickr user Peasap

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