Funding roundup: Digital therapeutics investments trending
Bayer leads $40M funding round in digital therapeutics company
One Drop, a company that develops digital therapeutic solutions for diabetes and other chronic conditions, has received $40 million in a Series B funding round led by pharmaceutical company Bayer. The company enables people to track and manage health conditions through it’s a)-powered behavioral recommendations.
In addition, Bayer has entered into a commercial licensing agreement to use One Drop’s platform within its global bio-digital efforts in therapies like oncology, cardiovascular disease and women’s health. As a result of the funding round, Bayer Pharmaceutical President Stefan Oelrich will also join One Drop’s board of directors.
One Drop has become a fast-growing diabetes management solution, used by nearly 1.5 million people in 195 countries.
Kaia Health sees $8M investment led by Optum Ventures
Optum ventures, the independent venture fund of pharmacy benefit manager Optum owned by UnitedHealth Group, has led an $8 million funding round into digital therapeutics company Kaia Health. Kaia Health, based in Munich, Germany, already announced a $10 million funding round earlier this year.
The company uses a smartphone-based approach to manage chronic conditions such as back pain, with real-time capabilities to give feedback to users on their exercise performance via smartphone camera.
“Following our recent $8 [million] investment, we are working together with the Optum Ventures team on identifying the best ways to integrate in the US healthcare system, but for now can't talk about specific projects,” Kaia Health Founder and CEO Konstantin Mehl told Health Exec.
The funding will be used to accelerate sales growth in the U.S. healthcare market, expand supporting clinical evidence and extend the platform for other chronic conditions.
“The healthcare system is not designed to take care of the rising chronic diseases patients suffer from,” Mehl said. “Digital therapeutics have the potential to play a major role in helping patients and taking a lot of stress off the medical professionals at the same time.”
InsightRx raises $10M
Precision medicine company InsightRx raised $10 million in a Series A funding round led by HealthX Ventures, with participation from other large capital investors including Rock Health, OSF Healthcare, Leawood Venture Capital, Premier Inc. and GreatPoint Ventures. The latest funding round brings InsightRx’s total funding up to $13 million since its founding in 2015.
The company created an integrated healthcare platform to individualize treatment at the point of care.
It integrates with HER systems and enables clinicians to individualize medication dosing regimens bedside, according to a press release. The platform, InsightRx Nova, optimizes with more than 100 drug and therapeutic areas.
The company plans to use the financing to “deepen its integration capabilities, broaden development across additional therapeutic areas and continue its expansion into health systems and life science companies,” an announcement reads.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."