Tech-backed pharmacy benefit manager SmithRx scooped up $20 million in a Series B funding round led by Venrock, with participation from existing investors, including Founders Fund.

The company pitches its Drug Acquisition Platform as a way to provide lower-cost medications, so its employer customers can save on their healthcare spend. According to SmithRx, the platform uses algorithms for each claim to find the lowest-cost option based on pharmacy distribution, clinical management, rebates and special programs.

"The lack of visibility into pricing, combined with ever-increasing drug costs, demands a fresh and novel approach,” Bryan Roberts, a partner at Venrock, said in a statement.

"What the team at SmithRx has built over the last six years is delivering on its promise to save customers money, enabled by technology and empowered by transparency. We look forward to partnering with the SmithRx team on their company building journey."

Avant-garde Health scored $12 million in Series A funding and announced the launch of its CareMeasurement analytics platform for surgical care.

The round was led by Fulcrum Equity Partners with participation from General Catalyst, Founder Collective, Tectonic Ventures, Sparta Group and individual former health system and physician group leaders.

The platform measures the cost of care, follows clinical outcomes, compares data for different treatments and offers insights from other providers so health systems can improve their surgeries and other procedures. The startup will use the funding to hire new staffers and expand their platform to more health systems. 

"It was clear healthcare providers needed better analytics to inform their care, which I also saw through the experiences of my family. My parents, brother and sister are all physicians. We are now working with dozens of hospitals across the country. The Series A funding will enable us to empower even more healthcare providers with the best possible care improvement analytics," CEO Derek Haas said in a statement.

Canadian care navigation startup Clinia raised C$5 million in a seed funding round led by AQC Capital with participation from Anges Québec, Groupe Benoit, Kastello and Formentera Capital.

The company's offerings include a search tool that works with organizations like Teladoc and Telus Health to direct patients to resources and provide personalized results.

"Finding the right resource – whether that be information, support, a care provider – is the important first step in every care journey," CEO Simon Bédard said in a statement.

"Naturally, people trust the existing relationship with their care networks so enabling these organizations to build a trusted ecosystem and be the first point of contact for their needs is key."

Clinia will use the seed investment to expand its team and scale its growth into the U.S.

Mental health provider marketplace Legion Health announced it has raised $2 million in seed funding. 

The seed included participation from angel investors Erica Johnson, cofounder of Modern Health, Dr. Ravi Shah, chief innovation officer of Columbia Psychiatry, Jeffrey Leerink, CEO of SVB Leerink and Jay Desai, former CEO and founder of PatientPing. Y Combinator, UpHonest Capital and Soma Capital also invested.

The startup's platform will match mental health clinicians with telehealth companies, hospitals and other healthcare organizations that need providers.

"We're not just a smarter staffing company,” cofounder and COO Daniel Wilson said in a statement. "We’re using technology to solve a hard logistics problem. By building a marketplace to deliver clinicians’ time, health care organizations can better scale their mental health offerings to service their ever-growing patient demand."