San Francisco-based startup Hinge Health provides a technical support platform to treat musculoskeletal (MSK) diseases such as knee pain, shoulder pain or back pain. The company received $26 million in investments in Series B financing.
Leading this round of financing is Insight Venture Partners, which is also involved in the company's A round of financing Atomico. In fact, I learned that London Ventures' investment has doubled and actually increased its stake in Hinge.
The new round of financing has enabled the company's total financing since its inception in 2015 to reach $36 million (originally based in London). Hinge Health founders Daniel Perez and Gabriel Mecklenburg still have majority control of the board.
Hinge Health will be referred to digitize their own health care, which combines wearable sensors, application and health guidance to provide physical therapy and behavioral health for the remote chronic disease. Of course, the company's basic premise is that there is now a lot of research showing how best to treat MSK disease, but existing health care systems don't do well in providing best practices, either because of cost and financing, or It is another systemic cause. The result is excessive reliance on opioid analgesics or surgery.
The startup's initial target customer is a self-insurance employer and health plan, and the key is that its platform can significantly reduce the medical costs associated with chronic MSK.
To this end, Perez tells me that Hinge Health currently has 40 corporate clients in the US and works with the 10 largest health plans. As a result, two-thirds of patients passed the program, avoiding the need for surgery, and in the case of Series A financing, this ratio was only 1/2. “Our goal is to increase this percentage to 80% as soon as possible,†he said.
Don't call Hinge "software is a drug" or so-called digital therapy. Perez is not a fan of these two terms, especially the work that Hinge Health is doing is not relevant.
“The two seem to imply that you only need a simple pill, just fine,†he said. “Software, connectivity hardware, and behavioral health support (such as education, coaching, targeted notifications, gamification/reward) can help expand the labor-intensive process of chronic care, not just a pill, you'll be fine. That's why when I mentioned chronic diseases, I really don't like the term 'digital treatment'."
Instead, Perez believes that Hinge Health is a “digital care pathway†because patients still need to do a lot of work to solve their chronic illnesses. In other words, it goes far beyond the scope of passive pop-up "digital pills."
I asked Hinge Health's founder whether it was a great job to access one-on-one health coaches through the app. In general, persistence is more important than technology. He said that it depends on whether it reveals that some patients are very dependent on being able to get help from the coach, although others need little or no counseling support, but rely on Hinge's wearable motion sensors to guide them through the exercises and tracking. schedule.
Perez added: “The clinical literature is very compelling; when you are connected to someone on the care team, it promotes adherence to the care plan. The key thing is that this person does not have to be a doctor or even a nurse, but it will definitely be you. Trusted people."
Puyang Linshi Medical Supplies Co., Ltd. , https://www.linshihealths.com