Yesterday Embleema, a healthcare blockchain startup that lets patients share their data with stakeholders, announced that it landed $3.7 million in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Pharmagest and Techstars. 

The news coincides with the announcement that Embleema will be joining the Alchemist Blockchain Techstars Accelerator, a three-month program that gives startups access to mentors and provides investment capital. 

“We believe in the vision of Embleema’s management team and their ability to set a new benchmark in sharing patient data for research, ultimately giving every individual more control and participation to accelerate research and clinical development,” Yossi Hasson, managing director at Techstars, said in a statement.

This comes just seven months after the New York and Paris-based company emerged from stealth mode. 

What they do

The company uses blockchain technology, which makes information easy to verify and difficult to falsify, to build a personal health record system for patients. The startup was designed to help patients share their blockchain health records and data with stakeholders, such as clinical researchers, in exchange for cryptocurrency. 

The HIPAA-compliant technology was developed in part to help tackle the issues of missing data in research. Patients can keep track of their health data through Embleema’s health blockchain and decentralized app. Clinicians can upload "Continuity of Care Documents" into the blockchain through HL7 and FHIR. Patients also have the ability to sync the platform to their Fitbit devices. 

What it’s for

The new money will be put towards accelerating the joint development of blockchain-based applications for patients and pharmacies. It will also help the company kick off its commercial deployment. 

Market snapshot

Blockchain is gaining some steam in healthcare. Many companies are using the technology to let individuals exchange their personal health data for cryptocurrency. 

A similar company in the space in HealthWizz, which lets users sell their health records to researchers and pharmacy companies. Users have the ability to share multiple forms of data including health records, lab results and data collected from wearables. 

On the record

“Our successful Series A funding round and integration into Techstars’ Alchemist Blockchain program will enable us to accelerate the release of the first decentralized marketplace for health data,” Robert Chu, CEO and founder at Embleema, said in a statement. “Health data owners such as patients, health networks and research centers will be able to exchange more relevant and faster data with life sciences companies and regulators such as the US [FDA] in a real-time, secure and continuous manner, while ensuring full patient consent, thus accelerating the release of new treatments for patients.”