Withings raises $60 million to scale up remote patient monitoring platform
Withings wants to change the way consumer and physicians interact and make annual physical checkups a thing of this past. To this end it has announced a $60 million Series B funding.
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The financing round was co-led by Gilde Healthcare, a specialised European healthcare investor. Other investors included long-term Withings partners Idinvest Partners and Bpifrance, along with others.
The money will be used to scale up the operation. The company is looking to recruit an additional 100 staff in the United States and France in a bid to expand its business-to-business division Withings MED PRO.
This is its remote patient monitoring platform that acts as an intermediary between patients and healthcare professionals. It can be used to remotely manage chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart health, sleep and weight management.
The system taps into health information churned out by the French company’s wide range of connected devices. It works via a smartphone/tablet app and DATA·HUB technology that uses cellular networks.
This is all part of the Telemedicine trend that has picked up as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. There’s a fundamental shift underway, in the way consumers and physicians interact and Withings wants to be a part of this. The changes will have major ramifications on how GPs and health care providers operate.
MED PRO also aids academic and pharma research, having been involved in over 100 clinical and academic studies. Some of these have been led by Harvard University, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, the American Medical Group Association and Scripps Health.
With origins in the now distant 2008, Withings is a wearable tech pioneer. The once owned Nokia outfit launched the first connected blood pressure monitor in 2009. Now it has a range of devices on offer including smart scales, smart watches and sleep mats.
These provide consumers on a daily basis with the type of information they would typically receive during their annual physical. The $60 million funding and additional staff will also be used to develop future generations of health products that can be used at home.
“I strongly believe in technology’s ability to transform society’s health by allowing anyone to regularly monitor their vitals from home and involve health professionals in this process,” said Eric Carreel, President and co-founder of Withings.
“Today, we are in an exciting time where medicine is becoming personalized, continuous, and based on data analysis, and I am proud Withings is at the heart of this revolution. With funding from like-minded partners, we can scale our efforts globally and continue to invest in new technologies and AI tools that can detect and predict medical conditions.”
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