Wearable technology company iBeat has gotten a fresh injection of cash, scoring another $3 million in funding to bring its total seed stage funding to $4.5 million. In addition to a health records platform, iBeat is now building a new wearable device that monitors and analyzes users’ heart activity.
Along with the funds come a slew of new investors, including WTI, SV Tech Ventures, Sidekick Fund, and angel investors Michael Rubin, Mark Burg and Harald Ludwig. They join original investors Maveron, Subtraction Capital, Correlation Ventures, Band of Angels, Ali and Hadi Partovi, KKR founding partner Henry Kravis and Dr. Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show.”
Correction: A previous version of this story misstated one of the investors.
Now, with some extra money at hand, iBeat’s next move will be to start clinical testing, re-calibrate its sales and marketing strategies and scale its tooling and manufacturing operations. New hires are also in the company’s future, as it looks to expand on a team that includes Dr. Mintu Turakhia, an associate professor of cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University, and Apple pros Roby DeManche and Drew Atkinson.
Turakhia is a practicing cardiac electrophysiologist and outcomes researcher. As iBeat’s consulting head of clinical, he’ll focus on clinical validation and outcomes studies.
DeManche will be heading up iBeat’s logistics and manufacturing operations. He brings with him prior experience at Apple, Samsung, Ford Motor Company and home thermostat maker Nest. Atkinson, meanwhile, joins as director of hardware engineering and will be responsible for iBeat’s mechanical and electrical hardware design. Prior to iBeat, Drew worked on the engineering teams at Apple, GoPro, and high-tech smart oven maker June.
Ryan Howard, iBeat’s founder and CEO, said he’s “thrilled” to have the new team members on board and that the funding validates the work the company’s done to date, adding that it’s “an affirmation of our technology and will help sustain our greater vision to reduce preventable deaths from these emergencies.”
iBeat expects to double its workforce by the end of the year.
