Frisco, Texas-based population health management company ZeOmega has raised $21.5 million in its second of funding, a raise that comes on the heels of a partnership announcement to develop the company's first mobile apps.
The round was led by private fund Bregal Sagemount. The fund's founding partner, Phil Yates, will join the company's board of directors. Others who contributed to the raise include past investors Blue Cross Blue Shield Venture Partners and Sandbox Industries. The company says the funding will go to infrastructure improvements and hiring to prepare for growth. The company has been around for 12 years, but has only had one other funding round -- an undisclosed raise in 2011.
Nandini Rangaswamy, CFO and cofounder of ZeOmega, told MobiHealthNews that the need for growth partly stems out of the company's plan to offer the platform to more providers, whereas it has mostly been working with payors prior to now. She said the shift is due to the growing interest in accountable care on the part of providers.
"Providers have traditionally been fee-for-service. They haven't been engaged outside of the office visit, as it were," she said. "Now, as providers are being held to account, they're realizing they need more technology. They're being asked to take on that risk, and that's where we see opportunities."
ZeOmega makes Jiva, a web-based care management software platform for payors and healthcare providers. But the company announced in June it was partnering with health consultant company emids to develop mobile apps. Rangaswamy said that the platform is already accessible on laptops and mobile devices via a web browser, but the apps will allow users to download information and work offline, then re-sync when they have Internet access again.
Rangaswamy said that mobile will be one more optional "module" for the system, which can be customized for different needs.
"We like to think of our solution as one that helps you address any need in the care continuum," she said. For instance, it can go broad, identifying the most at-risk patients so providers and payers can reach out to them, or go deep, helping coordinate care for one single chronic patient with a complicated set of co-morbidities.