As a Cone Health spin-off, Fuse Oncology is leading the pack so far for the Triad’s top fundraises of 2023.
Last month, Fuse Oncology announced its Series A funding round of over $8.8 million.
A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Fuse raised a significant portion of the $9.6 million total offering from 20 investors, including Cone Health Ventures and Northeast Georgia Health Ventures from Gainesville, Ga.
A SaaS startup focused on radiation oncology, Fuse Oncology will use the funding to expand its product, S!GNAL, and develop additional solutions for radiation oncology.
FUSE ONCOLOGY
- Industry: medical software
- Founded: 2021
- Top exec: James Bauler, CEO
- Address: 4214 W. Wendover Ave. #1340, Greensboro 27407
- Website: fuseonc.com
S!GNAL, which launched at the beginning of 2022 and uses technology developed at Cone Health’s Radiation Oncology Center of Innovation, helps radiation oncology practices close the gap between the clinical experience and coding/billing, automating the revenue cycle verification at each step and closely monitoring structured and unstructured data.
In addition to the fundraise, the Greensboro startup has been on an upward trajectory within the last year.
At the start of 2023, Fuse named James Bauler as its new CEO. Bauler, previously chief financial officer, took over from Dr. B.J. Sintay, who founded the company with Chief Technology Officer David Wiant. Sintay, who serves as Cone’s executive director of radiation oncology and chief physicist, is continuing with the startup in product development and innovation.
Bauler previously told TBJ that Fuse has been “in revenue” since it launched S!GNAL, as it had three commercial contracts signed and several in the pipeline as of January. In March, he also said that S!GNAL has helped identify an average of $30 million in revenues that are at risk and that Fuse has agreements with companies that represent about 17% of the nationwide radiation oncology market.
Bauler did not respond to multiple requests for an update on Fuse’s growth.
As of March, the company employed 24 people and said it intended to grow its headcount by 50%, with a particular need for tech talent, administrative employees and clinical consultants.
In May 2022, Fuse raised $3 million after previously receiving an undisclosed investment from Greensboro’s First Launch Capital Fund. Filings with the SEC show that Fuse has raised $11.8 million to date.
Fuse has already been working on a second product with an intended release date of later this year or early 2024.
Ultimately, Fuse’s goal is to drastically reduce the time it takes from a radiation oncology consultation to the initiation of treatment. Bauler said the average time in the U.S. is 21 days; he wants to bring it down to 24 hours.
