For the past 13 years, Atlanta-based software development and consulting company KMS Technology has incubated five software companies and has provided consulting services to over 100 businesses.
Nearly half of that business was healthcare, so the company has created a consulting business focused specifically on innovation in that field.
Launched in late 2021, KMS Healthcare provides software development and technical expertise to healthcare technology companies and launches its own healthcare technology startups.
The consulting arm and incubator adds to Atlanta’s robust healthcare innovation ecosystem that continues to gain traction. This year, healthcare artificial intelligence startup Codoxo closed a $20 million funding round to meet increasing demand, and health software startup Loyal expects to hire an additional 100 employees after quadrupling its revenue. That growth comes as 80% of healthcare providers plan to increase technology investments in the next five years, according to the HIMSS Future of Healthcare Report.
“Atlanta has the potential to become the Silicon Valley of health tech,” said KMS Healthcare CEO Mikael Öhman, who took the helm this month. “As KMS Healthcare expands, it will be able to tap into a global network of expertise that other healthcare technology companies in the area can take advantage of.”
Atlanta Tech Angels President Matthew May says incubators like KMS Healthcare could further enhance Atlanta's health tech industry.
“When you look at how health startups like PatientCo and Azalea Health have matured, it's a byproduct of a great ecosystem,” May said. “The Fortune 100 companies here are so diverse in terms of industry, and that benefits concentrated sectors like health IT.”
KMS Healthcare has 350 total employees, 10 of whom are based in Atlanta, Öhman said. It plans to hire another 10 local employees by the end of the year. Those hires will be in senior leadership, sales, marketing and client management positions.
KMS Healthcare's first incubated company, KMS Connect, could launch by late this year or early next year, Öhman said. The business provides a platform and tools that facilitate communication between patients, health insurance providers and hospitals. The company is currently consulting with approximately 15 companies and looks to grow that amount to 20 by the end of the year.
Öhman has over two decades of experience in health tech, including roles at McKinsey, Cerner and McKesson, according to a news release. In 2015, he co-founded BestCare Now Urgent Care, a walk-in physician clinic that was sold to Piedmont Urgent Care in March.
The parent company, KMS Technology, was co-founded in 2009 by Josh Lieberman and Vu Lam. It has 1,5000 developers and analysts based in Vietnam, and a 25-person team in Atlanta. The company works with technology companies across various industries to help develop and maintain their software and launches its own tech startups. It was featured in Atlanta Business Chronicle's fastest-growing private companies list in 2012 and 2017.
In 2011, it launched the test management company QASymphony which merged with the California-based testing platform Tricentis in 2018. Mobile-device platform Kobiton and human resource platform Grove also spun out of KMS.
