Germany-based digital health startup Emperra has raised $3.1 million in a round led by Robert Bosch Venture Capital with participation from existing investors, Peppermint VenturePartners and Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg. Emperra offers a digital diabetes management system that includes connected health devices and software. The company's executives also contributed to the round.

Emperra's primary product, Esysta, includes smart insulin pens, wireless-enabled blood glucose meters, and CE-marked software that runs on various platforms including smart TVs, web portals, and mobile apps.

“Esysta provided us with compelling evidence of medical benefit in a study involving more than 200 patients,” Dr. Dieter Kraft, an investment partner of Robert Bosch Venture Capital said in a statement. “It was shown that mean glucose levels (measured as HbA1c) were significant lowered without increasing the potentially life-threatening risk of hypoglycemia”.

The Esysta system has already secured reimbursement status from health plans in Germany, according to the company. Its hardware and software are both available by prescription for any patient with diabetes.

Last June Bosch shut down its US-based subsidiary Robert Bosch Healthcare and reduced its healthcare operations to a 50-person team based in Germany. With the shuttering came the news that it would also shutter its pioneering Health Buddy telemedicine service.

Health Buddy, acquired in 2007 from Health Hero, was a home management platform for CHF, depression, diabetes, hypertension, COPD, or weight management. It consisted of a small box with a screen and four buttons. Health Buddy would ask a patient survey questions daily, as well as prompt them to take their weight or blood pressure via connected devices, and send the data to a care provider.

Emperra expects the strategic investment from Bosch to help it growth both in Germany and as it pushes into the US.