The virtual care platform Conversa announced this week it has raised an additional $8 million for its Series B funding round, bringing the total amount for this raise to $20 million.

The company first announced it had raised $12 million last June led by Builders VC and Northwell Ventures. In addition to the co-leaders, the now completed Series B round also had participation from UH Ventures, P5 Health Ventures, Genesis Merchant Capital, J-Ventures, Epic Ventures, StartUp Health and Nassau Street Ventures.

With the additional funds Conversa has raised a total of $34 million.

WHAT IT DOES

Conversa has an Automated Virtual Care and Triage platform that providers can use to remotely monitor, analyze and communicate with patients across a range of conditions. It can be used for chronic care, acute discharges, oncology, OBGYN, preventative care, wellness and more.

The platform automates care along the way by helping identify high-risk patients and then putting them in communication with a healthcare provider via phone calls, telehealth, e-visits or in person.

The tool has been deployed at several health systems, including Northwell Health, UCSF Health and UNC Health – all of which have used Conversa’s suite of COVID-19 virtual care tools. These can be used to educate patients about the virus, direct them to care, deliver test results and provide daily quarantine check-ins.

“Northwell has been successfully using Conversa to scale our communications and patient engagement initiatives which include thousands of COVID-19 patients,” said Michael Dowling, the president and CEO of Northwell Health, in a statement. “Conversa has become a critical collaborator in achieving our vision for virtual health, helping Northwell to engage, monitor and manage patients more efficiently than ever before.”

WHAT IT’S FOR

With the funds from the expanded Series B round, Conversa plans to continue to build its platform out, it said in the announcement.

Specifically, it plans to expand its library of automated virtual care pathways and grow its services with new and existing customers.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Chatbots have become a popular tool during the pandemic to relieve some of the burden off overwhelmed providers. Companies such as GYANT, Infermedica and Your.MD have all raised millions of funding dollars during the pandemic to expand their platforms.

Others, like LifeLink, have teamed up with health systems to deploy their solutions. The conversational chatbot-maker partnered with Banner Health last spring to assist in the waiting room for both in-person and virtual visits.

ON THE RECORD

“In the future, much of healthcare will be done remotely. Conversa’s automated platform helps care teams practice at the top of their license to deliver high-quality care at a much lower cost,” said Murray Brozinsky, the CEO of Conversa, in a statement.

“Our technology continually analyzes health data, using the resulting ‘signals’ to navigate patients along personalized journeys down evidence-based pathways. This data-plus-behavioral science approach maximizes engagement and drives positive behaviors while reducing variability of care. We’re honored to partner with our visionary customers and investors in our crusade to transform healthcare.”