Category: Health

Remote patient monitoring company Alio scooped up $18 million in the first close of a Series C funding round.

The raise was led by the Widjaja Family Investment Office with participation from existing investors, including Chase Field LLC and Thomas Krebs, former treasurer of medical device company Penumbra.

Alio said the Series C brings its total amount the company has raised to more than $50 million. The startup last raised $20 million in Series B funds in 2021. 

WHAT THEY DO

Alio offers a remote monitoring system for chronic conditions, currently focused on patients undergoing dialysis.

Earlier this year, the company announced the system had received FDA 510(k) clearance to collect physiological data — like skin temperature; auscultation, or internal body sounds; and heart rate — in the home. 

According to the 510(k) summary, the system includes the SmartPatch wearable sensor, its Bedside Hub (which collects and uploads patch

AI-enabled voice technology platform Sonde Health announced it raised $19.25 million in a Series B funding round led by Partners Investment, bringing its total raise to $35.25 million.

KT Corporation, NEOM Company and existing investors also participated in the round, including cofounder PureTech Health and M Ventures.

WHAT IT DOES

Sonde Health uses patented voice technology to detect various health conditions from biomarkers in a person’s voice, including analyzing respiratory fitness and detecting depression and anxiety.

WHAT IT’S FOR

The funding will help build out the company’s technology to detect additional health conditions, expand its current respiratory and mental health-monitoring technologies, and drive global commercial growth.

“Digital biomarkers are becoming a mainstay in healthcare. Today’s healthcare companies are realizing how vocal biomarkers can engage people earlier in their health. The data and insights found in voice can power health monitoring and patient stratification so issues can become apparent well before

Amazon will no longer support Alexa third-party HIPAA-eligible Skills, which allows patients to share HIPAA-protected health information with hospitals and health insurers through its voice-based Alexa platform.

The company announced the HIPAA-compliant data transfer capability in 2019 alongside the launch of six Alexa Skills built by healthcare providers and other stakeholders, including My Children’s Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS), Livongo Blood Sugar Lookup, Swedish Health Connect, Cigna Health Today, Atrium Health and Express Scripts. 

Each Skill was designed to help members, patients and caretakers manage care at home with voice commands.

In an email to Skill users dated Dec. 5, Amazon said it would “suppress” Skills for users on Dec. 9, and delete any protected health information pertaining to their Skills per its Alexa deletion policies, according to Voicebot.ai, who initially broke the story. 

An Amazon spokesperson told MobiHealthNews in an email, “We regularly review our experiences to

Lokavant, which provides a data analytics platform for clinical trials, raised $21 million in a funding round led by Edison Partners.

Roivant Sciences, which builds health tech and biotech companies called “Vants,” participated in the raise. Lokavant was incubated at Roivant and piloted its platform with some of the company’s other biotech ventures. 

As part of the fundraise, Gregg Michaelson, general partner at Edison, will join Lokavant’s board of directors. 

WHAT THEY DO

Lokavant offers a centralized data repository for managing clinical trials. The platform allows users to input different data types and sources and view visualizations. 

They can also use apps that aim to anticipate future events and mitigate risk, provide insight into study performance and use third-party and Lokavant data to predict the clinical trial’s performance in advance. 

The startup said it will use the capital to build up its commercial teams and speed development on new features

German company apoQlar announced its plans to raise Series A funding after receiving FDA 510(k) clearance for its VSI HoloMedicine platform, a mixed reality offering that helps surgeons plan for procedures using 3D holographic technology. 

The platform enables surgeons to turn radiographic images such as PET, Angio CT, SPECT, CBCT, CT and MRI scans into 3D holograms to examine before surgery.

Through its subsidiary in Miami, Florida, apoQlar will distribute its HoloMedicine platform in the U.S. during the second quarter of 2023, and the prospective Series A raise will help scale its platform.

The Hamburg-based company said it has now received medical certifications in 30 countries. 

“With mixed reality, we are no longer bound to physical objects in a physical world. We can leverage digital objects and services on top of the real world for equal or greater utility and usually at a fraction of the cost. Mixed reality is

Lumen, maker of a handheld metabolism measurement device, announced Thursday it had scooped up $62 million in Series B funding. 

The round was led by Pitango Venture Capital with participation from Hanwha Group, Resolute Ventures, RiverPark Ventures, Unorthodox Ventures, Almeda Capital and Disruptive VC.

The company previously raised $8.5 million in 2019 as well as a crowdfunding raise in 2018.  

WHAT THEY DO

The startup offers a handheld, breathalyzer-like device equipped with a CO2 sensor. Users breathe into the device, and it analyzes whether the body is burning fats or carbs for fuel. 

Lumen also provides an app that collects that data and provides nutrition recommendations based on results. It also integrates with Apple HealthKit, Google Fit and Garmin. 

The company said it has partnered with research institutions like Purdue University’s Whistler Center for Carbohydrate Research, University of Toronto’s Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education and ARU Cambridge over

The latest results from the Apple Women’s Health Study found 16.4% of the study population experienced abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB).

The findings, which were published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, collected self-reported cycle-tracking data from 18,875 participants’ from November 2019 through July 2021.

Monthly tracking was confirmed using survey responses, with participants verifying the previous months’ data accuracy to be included.

Four AUB patterns were considered, with 2.9% of participants experiencing irregular menses, 8.4% having infrequent menses, 2.3% reporting prolonged menses and 6.1% experiencing irregular intermenstrual bleeding (spotting). 

Participants with polycystic ovary syndrome, endometriosis, hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism were more likely to report AUB compared with participants who didn’t report these conditions. 

Black participants were more likely to report AUB, and they experienced a 33% increased prevalence of infrequent menses compared to white, non-Hispanic participants. Asian participants had irregular menses at a higher rate.

The mean age

Return on investment and clinical validation will be the most significant indicators for success for digital health companies in 2023, according to a survey by investment firm GSR Ventures.

The survey, which included responses from more than 50 investors, found that more than 94% deemed ROI to be “important” or “very important” to a digital health company’s success, and 79% said clinical evidence and trials were top indicators. 

Investors anticipate digital health funding in 2023 will be between $15 billion and $25 billion. They also expect valuations will decrease by around 20% for seed stage funding. Series A and Series B+ valuations could dip between 20% and 40%. 

The prevalence of provider shortages and burnout will provide the most opportunity for startups, according to 48.1% of those surveyed. Nearly 27% said changing reimbursement models was the biggest challenge, followed by 11.5% who cited interoperability.

More than half of investors said

Finland-based Oura, maker of the health-tracking Ring, announced the launch of “Oura For Business,” which will supply individuals with personalized insights while providing customized tools and recommendations for leaders based on group data. 

Oura said it will offer specialized offerings geared toward employee wellness, athletics, the military, healthcare, corporations and higher education.

The Finland-based company says employers can access anonymous Oura Ring metrics on sleep, readiness, activity scores, and member-focused content and guidance to take action on employee wellbeing metrics. 

Still, individual participation in organization-level programs and reports is on an opt-in basis. 

“Oura For Business fundamentally improves how organizations of all kinds can support their people,” Tom Hale, Oura’s CEO said in a statement. “Helping individuals thrive is how we create success and positive outcomes for society as a whole. We’ve already seen significant traction with enterprise customers and are excited to continue growing these offerings as part of

GE Heathcare and MediView XR, a med-tech company that leverages augmented reality, announced their collaboration to co-develop the OmnifyXR Interventional Suite System. It will combine medical imaging and mixed-reality solutions to assist physicians and their care teams.

The collaboration will pair GE’s imaging technologies with MediView’s augmented reality and surgical navigation expertise to allow physicians to evaluate multiple holographic displays of live imaging in 3D using Microsoft’s HoloLens technology. 

The aim is to help physicians better assess a patient’s anatomy, make more informed clinical decisions and allow for remote collaboration by care teams in different locations.

OmnifyXR will be designed and manufactured by MediView XR, and will initially launch in the U.S. 

“We are thrilled to advance our strategic collaboration with GE Healthcare by co-developing and creating the interventional suite of the future –- one that is designed to improve ergonomics, with natural interactions for optimized workflow and facilitates care