A Durham company focused on accelerating innovation in digital health has raised $3.3 million to improve its technology and grow its customer base.
The financing will help Pattern Health invest in its no-code platform, which clinicians and researchers can use to develop digital health programs that can be adopted for clinical use, and broaden the company's reach throughout health care.
Since launching in 2016, the company has built relationships with 12 of the top 20 academic medical centers in the U.S. Pattern CEO Ed Barber said that with the new funding the company plans to grow these relationships while also expanding its reach to other organizations. This includes remote first health care services that have the clinical expertise but need a tech stack to empower their services.
"The more we can provide the tech to allow people to test programs out, the more it will improve efficacy," Barber said.
Barber has experience in working in venture-backed technology startups. He previously had roles at successful upstarts such as Motricity, Appia and Raleigh-based Bandwidth (Nasdaq: BAND).
As a company founded by serial entrepreneurs, Pattern is always in contact with investor partners, Barber said. For this round, the company found financial partners that share Pattern's vision for the opportunities in digital health care.
"The pace of innovation in health care software isn't the same as other areas," Barber said. "If you create the right ecosystems, the right technology, you can increase innovation."
The Dr. William H. Joyce Family Office led the series A round, which included participation from existing investors Cofounders Capital of Cary, The Launch Place and Scot Wingo's Triangle Tweener Fund. The round follows the company closing on $1.5 million in early 2021.
Through the company's platform, clinicians and researchers can develop and build digital health programs, surveys and clinical tools that, once proven effective, can be licensed to health care institutions. For instance, last year, Pattern announced the commercial launch of a home-based cardiac rehab program developed with Duke Health that allows clinicians to serve patients unable to participate in on-site rehabilitation programs.
"We're licensing that program outside of Duke to health care providers who want to provide the same service," Barber said.
Now up to 19 employees, most of whom are local, Pattern will continue to add to its headcount this year and into 2023 as the company continues to grow. Pattern has a dedicated space at American Underground in Durham but operates on a remote hybrid model that was in place prior to the Covid-19 pandemic. Barber said the approach has helped with recruitment and retention.
