While social distancing has forced healthcare conferences to go virtual, it hasn’t stopped startups from raising money to fund their early development efforts. Here is a list of companies that have raised money this week.
Dascena
Headquarters: Oakland, California
Funding type: Series B
Amount raised: $50 million
A company developing machine learning algorithms in diagnostics, Dascena said Thursday that it raised $50 million in a Series B round led by Frazier Healthcare Partners, with participation from Longitude Capital, existing investor Euclidean Capital and an undisclosed investor. The company plans to use the money to advance its suite of algorithms to inform patient care strategies and improve outcomes.
In addition, Dascena announced Thursday the publication of a prospective study to evaluate the effect of its machine learning algorithm in predicting severe sepsis, in the journal BMJ Health & Care Informatics. The study used real-world clinical data from more than 75,000 patient encounters that were monitored by its InSight machine learning algorithm, including 17,758 hospital stays that warranted inclusion in the analysis based on meeting two or more systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria. It found that the implementation of InSight resulted in a 39.5% reduction of in-hospital mortality, a 33.27% reduction of length of stay and a 22.74% reduction in 30-day readmission.
HeartVista
Headquarters: Los Altos, California
Funding type: Series A
Amount raised: $8.65 million
HeartVista said Tuesday that it had raised an $8.65 million Series A round, led by Khosla Ventures, Jeff Rothschild, Leslie Ventures, Open Field Capital and others. Together with grants it has raised from the National Institutes of Health, HeartVista has received a total of $16.35 million in funding.
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 company is developing artificial intelligence-assisted MRI technology and said that the money it has raised would help to fuel its development of musculoskeletal and neural products, while allowing it to deepen strategic alliances with cardiology centers. It also plans to use the money to expand its sales, marketing and regulatory operations around the world.
Genespire
Headquarters: Milan, Italy
Funding type: Series A
Amount raised: 16 million euros ($17.6 million)
Genespire said Wednesday that it had raised a 16 million-euro Series A round from Sofinnova Partners. Founded in March, the company is focused on the development of gene therapies and is a spin-off of the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy, or SR-Tiget.
The firm plans to use the money it has raised to advance its platform technologies for developing gene therapies in two main areas, namely primary immunodeficiencies and metabolic genetic diseases.
Particle Health
Headquarters: New York
Funding type: Series A
Amount raised: $12 million
Particle Health said Tuesday that it raised $12 million in a Series A round led by Menlo Ventures, with participation from existing investors the Collaborative Fund, Story Ventures and Company Ventures. Additional angel investors include executives from firms like Flatiron Health, Clover Health, Plaid, Petal and Hometeam.
The company’s technology is designed to enable third-party developers to access healthcare data from major electronic medical records, using a HIPAA-compliant platform.
“Clumsy information sharing has taxed U.S. healthcare for decades, but new rules against information blocking establish patients’ rights to access their medical data via API,” said Greg Yap, a partner at Menlo Ventures who will join Particle Health’s board, in a statement. “Particle Health’s technology platform is the first to deliver simple, secure, scalable and comprehensive access to healthcare data.”
Vida Health
Headquarters: San Francisco
Amount raised: $25 million
Vida Health said Thursday that it raised $25 million in a round of new funding led by Ally Bridge Group, with participation from AME Cloud Ventures, Aspect Ventures, Canvas Ventures, NGP Capital, Webb Investment Network and Workday Ventures.
The company said it plans to use the funding to help meet the increased demand for virtual healthcare, particularly in mental health, as it says the Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on a growing need for virtual, personalized mental and physical care. The company said that its usage has increased by 500,000 new patients, bringing the total to 1.4 million.
Photo: Feodora Chiosea, Getty Images
