Health data startup Health Gorilla landed $50 million in series C funding to enable easier access to patient medical records.
The startup’s national health information network works to allow seamless data sharing between patients, payers, providers, digital health companies and labs.
Its platform uses a suite of FHIR-based application program interfaces (APIs) that digital health developers can integrate into their own solutions to aggregate each patient’s entire clinical history in one place.
SignalFire led the series C round, with participation from Epsilon Health Investors, IA Capital and Nationwide Ventures.
“The 800-pound gorilla in the room is that your doctor doesn’t have access to accurate medical records. For patients to receive the best care possible, all players in the ecosystem need to work together,” said Chris Scoggins, partner at SignalFire, in a statement. “Health Gorilla is uniquely positioned to address this gap in healthcare and patient treatment, and we look forward to working alongside their team to ensure the right people have access to the right health data so the right decisions can be made in a more timely and informed manner.”
Founded in 2014, Health Gorilla has raised $80 million to date, last pulling in $15 million in March 2021.
The startup said it plans to use the series C funding to continue to build its team and invest in its product development and go-to-market strategies.
The company doubled its headcount last year and made new leadership additions including Karla Mills as chief operating officer and former Department of Health and Human Services attorney Carol Allis as chief compliance officer.
“This round of funding will be followed by a concentrated push to bring on industry-leading talent across the organization,” said Mills. “We already have various exciting opportunities available and will have a strong focus on expanding our sales, marketing, engineering, business development and product teams throughout the year.”
The startup says it prioritizes aspects of data sharing including high security and patient identity matching to simplify the task of extracting a patient’s health information from another clinical records system.
Its customer base increased 87% last year compared with 2020, while its committed annual recurring revenue grew 200%.
The company is also applying to become a qualified health information network, a federal designation introduced this year to mark networks that connect to one another to support national health information exchange.
The title is part of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA), released by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in January, five years after the first draft.
TEFCA isn’t binding, but the publication of the health information exchange principles marks a critical step toward creating a nationwide data-sharing network.
Companies leveraging national data-sharing networks have grown in popularity in recent years among organizations seeking easy access to patient data.
Investors are pouring more money into interoperability solutions, too. The global market is expected to grow to $5.8 billion by 2028, more than doubling from $2.8 billion in 2020.
Ribbon Health has also built a health data API platform that’s caught VC attention, banking $43.5 million in a series B funding round led by General Catalyst in November.
The company links provider data to help patients more easily find and compare doctors.