Healthcare data analytics startup Socially Determined announced Tuesday that it had closed a $26 million Series B funding round led by Questa Capital.

Other participants in the raise include existing investors LRVHealth, OSF Healthcare, Ziegler Link-Age Funds and HealthWorx. The startup wrapped up its $11.1 million Series A in early 2020. 

WHAT IT DOES

Socially Determined is focused on using data to offer insights into the social determinants of health, factors like access to food, housing and transportation. 

The company's SocialScape platform includes public and commercial data. It allows clients like healthcare providers, insurers, life science companies and nonprofits to visualize the potential social factors behind patients' and populations' health.

Dr. Trenor Williams, Socially Determined's CEO and cofounder, said health organizations can then measure the performance of their social determinants initiatives and work to improve them. 

"An example that we found with one of our partners was a produce prescription program focused around individuals that had a couple of different food-sensitive diseases. And there's a sub-segment of the population that wasn't engaging and taking advantage of that," he told MobiHealthNews. 

"As we looked at the data, part of what we realized is that the sub-segment also had an increased risk around transportation. So then [you have] the ability to start to think about, how do you modulate and evolve interventions to continue to get better and provide greater impact?"

WHAT IT'S FOR

The startup plans to use the investment to hire across the business, including in engineering, data science, account management and marketing. It also plans to use funds to attend conferences, expand its marketing efforts and continue to improve the platform. 

"We will continue to evaluate and add data sources all the time," Williams said.

"We believe this is a never-ending journey with our customers to continue to refine and make sure that our social risk intelligence is as actionable as it possibly can be."

MARKET SNAPSHOT

Another company focused on social determinants of health is Unite Us, which uses data to identify areas of need and connect patients to social services. Last year, the company acquired analytics firm Carrot Health and population health-focused NowPow. Unite Us also scored $150 million in Series C funding in March 2021. 

Meanwhile, healthcare software and services company WellSky acquired social service coordination platform Healthify last year to boost its social determinants of health offerings.