New York City startup Wellth, which leverages behavioral economics to help patients adhere to their care plans, has secured $5.1 million in funding.
Investors included Boehringer Ingelheim’s Venture Fund, AXA Venture Partners, New York Life Insurance Company and NFP’s Venture Fund. CD-Venture, the Partnership Fund for New York City, Yabeo and former Anthem chairman Leonard Schaeffer also participated.
Wellth will use the financing to continue to expand its team and meet the increasing market demand.
“We are looking forward to working closely with our investors in this round to identify new opportunities within health insurance, life insurance, health systems and the pharmaceutical industry,” Wellth co-founder and CEO Matt Loper said, according to a blog post. “We hope to use these new avenues to establish a wider range of use cases to improve patient health and drive down costs for insurers and health systems.”
The startup’s clients include insurers and risk-bearing providers. Wellth then uses financial incentives to encourage patients with chronic conditions (like cardiovascular disease, COPD, asthma and type 2 diabetes) to stick to their care plans. The company’s app lets patients track their medication adherence.
For instance, a patient may be offered $150 for 90 days of adherence. Each day, the app sends a reminder to take the medicine to avoid losing money. The individual can take a photo of their medication, and Wellth will verify that they’ve taken it at the right time.
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.
The ultimate goal is to improve patient outcomes and reduce readmissions and preventable hospitalizations.
Back in 2016, Wellth raised $2 million in a round led by AXA Strategic Ventures. TB-Fore Capital, I2BF Venture Capital, Beta Bridge Ventures and AltaIR Capital also participated. In an interview at the time, Loper said the investment would enable the company to handle full-scale commercial implementations of its technology.
Earlier this year, the New York City startup participated in the Aging Startup Challenge, a competition co-hosted by Stella and Aging 2.0. The contest was for companies developing solutions or services for the aging population and ecosystem.
Photo: StockFinland, Getty Images
