Founded by a team of former Cisco Systems executives, Reston, Va.-based Avizia is a developer of video conferencing technologies focused on telemedicine. The fast-growing startup recently secured a $4 million funding raise led by Washington, D.C.-based NextGen Angels, Blue Venture Investors, Middleland Capital and an unnamed firm, Avizia CEO and founder Mike Baird confirmed. Baird told DC Inno that the latest funding round—the company's largest to date—will be used to accelerate development, expand its workforce and explore potential deals similar to December’s Emerge.MD merger.
“Our passion is on making solutions that are approachable, simple to use, and user-centric. Everything we do starts with the patient, nurse, or doctor in mind to make it easier for them to deliver quality healthcare. We constantly remind ourselves to keep it personal,” Baird told DC Inno.
Avizia uses Cisco TelePresence technology to enable high-definition, real-time video collaboration customized to meet the unique product requirements and user needs of its clients in healthcare, education and government. Since December and the merger with Scottsdale, Az.-based Emerge.MD, Avizia has taken a directive focus on the healthcare industry.
Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies in order to provide clinical health care at a distance. There are currently 22 states where private healthcare insurers provide telemedicine coverage for doctor visits — prescriptions coverage is unaffected by a patient’s choice of doctor, telecommuting or otherwise. That being said, there is legislation in almost every state trending to support telemedicine. “For healthcare providers, revenue at a base level is all about scaling resources … cost and revenue for these businesses will also be a primary driver in the wide scale acceptance of pro-telemedicine legislation,” Baird said.
Avizia currently serves 300 corporate customers, globally, in 34 countries. Baird told DC Inno, “we already have nearly 2 million patients using our e-visit platform and many of the leading hospitals in the nation on our software – but we’d like to expand the range of service lines we provide, such as: critical care, cardiology and to drive deeper integrations with electronic health record platforms.”
Founded in 2013, Avizia has experienced rapid organizational growth. Only seven months ago the company employed just 22 people, but things have quickly changed. As of Tuesday’s funding round, the company now boasts 55 full-time staff members with plans to expand to approximately 80 in 2015 — with new personnel added including software, sales, development engineers and clinical implementation specialists.
In terms of an additional funding round, Baird said that “we should be good heading into 2016. Our profits and margins have been very healthy and so I do not expect another round for the coming year.” On revenue, Avizia’s CEO declined to comment on an exact figure but did say that the company expects 50 percent plus growth for 2015.
“We believe that 'T-Day' (telemedicine day) is on the near horizon – the moment when the market explodes and only those at the front of the pack will have the opportunity to accelerate," he said. "Because of that we are always open to acquisitions, partnerships, and new solutions to keep us at the head of the pack. We are always scanning the market for other like-minded companies that make sense in this context to transform patient care.”
