Rippl, a virtual dementia care company, secured $23 million in series A funding to expand its services to patients in more states.
The startup says its care model aims to keep people with dementia out of the hospital and fill a widening gap in the healthcare system.
Rippl offers wraparound services for patients living with dementia and their caregivers. The company leverages a virtual pod composed of a nurse practitioner, licensed clinical social worker and care navigator that can provide high level clinical support, advanced psychotherapy and resource coordination, among other capabilities.
Founder and CEO Kris Engskov said he and others began Rippl two and a half years ago because of family members' experiences with dementia and the lack of care coordination services for dementia patients.
No specific specialty care exists for dementia, while nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease. And, the number of people with dementia is growing: By 2050, it's estimated that 13 million people in the U.S. will have Alzheimer's.
The series A round was led by Tina Hoang-To, Kin Ventures founding general partner, which is also based in Seattle. JSL Health was also a new investor in the round. All other institutional investors from its seed round also participated: Arch Ventures, General Catalyst, GV (Google Ventures), F-Prime, Mass General Brigham Ventures and 1843 Capital.
Rippl will use the fresh capital to expand its geographic footprint to Florida, California and Arizona over the next four years, among other states. It’s currently available in Washington, Texas, Illinois and Missouri.
Rippl is also hoping to expand its value-based contracts with the funding.
“We think this is such a great opportunity to work with risk holders on a disease that is, you know, going to grow in volume at a rate I think we've not seen before, and with a disease that today is very, very expensive and we don't have great models in place to take care of these patients,” Engskov, said.
It will also expand its capability to offer dementia care to seniors through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model.
Rippl began offering care through CMS’ new GUIDE model when the model went live July 1.
The company started providing care to dementia patients just months before CMS unveiled the GUIDE program in summer 2023. The company has now partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association to offer the Dementia Care Navigation Service (DCNS) with support from the Alzheimer’s Association’s community education resources and 24/7 hotline. The program has been approved by CMS to participate in the eight-year GUIDE model.
Through GUIDE, CMS provides bundled payments for care navigation services for patients with dementia. GUIDE was founded on the same clinical research out of the University of California (UC), San Francisco and UC Los Angeles as Rippl, Engskov said.
Rippl acquired Boston-based AI company Kinto in April, which will allow it to expand its service offerings. Through Kinto’s software, Rippl is working to provide advanced care navigation for dementia patients and their caregivers that leverages AI for faster support. Engskov also said the company hopes to use AI to provide educational resources to families.
“With this investment, we will continue to deliver on our mission to provide the highest quality support for those navigating the challenges of dementia,” Engskov said in a statement. “People affected by this disease have been undervalued and underserved for far too long. We founded Rippl to dramatically expand access to the highest quality, specialty care for patients, caregivers and families struggling with this disease. And, keep them at home and out of the ED and hospital, a place they end up far too often. This new funding is a testament to the confidence our investors have in our vision.”