Cedar closes $200M for engaging patient payments, Paige updates its 9-figure Series C and more digital health fundings

Cedar, the maker of an intelligent patient billing and engagement platform, announced today a $200 million Series D round of funding headed by Tiger Global Management, with participation from prior backers including Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Thrive Capital and Concord Health Partners. This brings the company’s total fundraising haul to $350 million, it said, and its valuation to $3.2 billion.

Cedar said that its patient-friendly digital offering has helped quadruple its business throughout the course of 2020 and now engages with more than 300,000 patients per day. It said it will use the new money to push its product roadmap outside of its core financial engagement product and focus on patient engagement offerings such as pre-visit price transparency tools.

“Now more than ever, patients deserve a healthcare experience that prioritizes their needs, and yet there are still so many problems on the financial side, which negatively impact their medical journey,” Florian Otto, CEO and cofounder of Cedar, said in a statement. “Our mission has always been to enable exceptional patient experiences and transform healthcare. With this funding, we are in position to further extend our footprint, help relieve financial burdens for patients and continue innovating to respond to ongoing shifts in the healthcare industry.”

Paige (formerly Paige.AI) has updated its $100 million Series C from January, now announcing that investment firm KKR has joined the round as a co-lead and brought its total to “over $125 million.” Casdin Capital and Johnson & Johnson had previously been announced as the leading backers in the round, which Paige said also included support from Catalio Capital Management and other prior backers.

The AI-enabled diagnostic platform for oncologists and pathologists said it will use the funds to expand its geographic footprint. In January, that included roughly 70 new hires to its engineering and commercial teams before the end of the year.

“KKR is committed to supporting differentiated companies such as Paige that are reimagining how technology can support health care providers and diagnostics,” Ali Satvat, partner and global head of healthcare strategic growth at KKR, said in a statement. “With its cutting-edge technology platform and strong management team, we believe that Paige is well-positioned for sustainable growth.”

Drug discovery platform Valo Health LLC closed a $300 million Series B round, bringing its total funding to over $450 million. The funding includes $110 million from Koch Disruptive Technologies.

The company’s Opal Computational Platform uses machine learning and patient data to inform the development of new therapeutics. According to the company’s website, the platform is able to pinpoint specific molecules and predict those molecules’ chances of success in a specific patient.

Valo plans to use the infusion of cash to build out its platform for discovery and development.

“We are reimagining the process of discovering and developing life-changing drugs in potentially half the time, at half the cost, and with fewer failures, and we are proud that KDT recognizes our paradigm-changing work,” David Berry, Valo founder and CEO, said in a statement. “This investment and their partnership will help us further scale and accelerate our goals and the Opal platform.”

Blue Note Therapeutics, a San Francisco-based prescription digital therapeutics company, has raised $26.25 million in Series A funding. JAZZ Venture Partners led the investment, to which Summer VC also contributed.

The startup received a Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA last summer for BNT001, a treatment for symptoms of anxiety and depression related to cancer in adults. In addition to funding clinical trials of the product, Blue Note said that it will also be looking to scale its organization and develop other assets in its pipeline.

“When a patient receives a cancer diagnosis, the treatment and management of physical disease is prioritized. However, there remains a significant unmet need to treat the psychosocial symptoms of those who may experience distress related to their cancer diagnosis, treatment, or survivorship,” Dr. Andrew Firlik, cofounder and managing partner of JAZZ Venture Partners, said in a statement. “Blue Note devices present an opportunity to expand access for all Americans to the standard of care in top cancer centers and solve the acute supply and demand mismatch between patient need and available care providers. We are pleased to join Blue Note Therapeutics in this Series A round to help bring this promising technology to cancer patients in need.”

PocketPills, a Canadian online pharmacy founded in 2018, collected $30 million in Series B funding. TELUS Ventures led the raise, with follow-on participation from WaterBridge Ventures.

The company said that its platform quintupled its growth in 2020 and now has pharmacy warehouses in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Nova Scotia. Its new money will go toward its technology and pharmacy automation, and will also help open new locations in Alberta and Quebec.

“Our investment in digital pharmacy aligns with our mission to digitally transform Canada’s healthcare ecosystem through the power of technology and connect the virtual continuum of care to improve access, experiences and outcomes for all Canadians,” Rich Osborn, managing partner at TELUS Ventures, said in a statement. “We’re excited to support the innovative leaders at PocketPills as they drive further advancements in this space where there is a clear market need.”

Last week Baltimore-based BurnAlong, a digital wellness platform for employers and other enterprises, announced a $7 million fundraise led by Triventures.

BurnAlong’s offering leans on video health and wellness content with social motivation and engagement features. The company said it is active in more than 70 countries, with clients ranging from Fortune 500 employers to public organizations to hospitals.

“This raise enables us to accelerate our national and international expansion, expand our specially programming, and increase our focus on data and medical outcomes,” Daniel Freedman and Mike Kott, co-CEOs and cofounders of BurnAlong, said in a statement. “Our employer, insurer and medical and wellness partners are focused with us on ensuring that everyone, from children to seniors, have the physical, emotional, and financial programming and social support they need. In today’s world there’s a deep understanding that wellness programming can no longer just be targeting the small percentage of the population who are young and active.”

Arizona-based healthcare fintech startup PayGround announced a $4 million seed funding raise headlined by Triventures and supported by SixThirty.

The company said that it wants to execute on its tech roadmap with the new money. It will also build up its brand with an “aggressive” sales and marketing push surrounding its consumer-focused collections offering for providers.

“PayGround’s leadership team not only has the vision to solve a real problem in this industry but has demonstrated phenomenal execution to date,” Netalie Nadivi, general partner at Triventures, said in a statement. “In just a year of commercial market presence, PayGround has deployed in over 100 healthcare facilities, generating tangible ROI by improving DSO and collections on bad debt. We could not be more excited to lead this Seed Round and look forward to seeing PayGround continue to execute on its mission.”

Marché Health has raised $1 million in seed funding from Pandion Optimization Alliance to support its effort to build a marketplace for digital health and health IT software.

The curation platform, according to the startup, would help stakeholders within the industry parse the growing number of digital health products being developed and released.

“One-sided, disjointed information around digital health has created friction and obstructed adoption,” Dr. Manny Fombu, founder of Marché Health, said in a statement. “Marché Health will simplify access to global digital innovation that improves care for everyone while lowering costs. Pandion’s investment validates Marché Health’s approach to providing a trusted marketplace dedicated to digital health so that hospitals, pharma, payers and vendors can all learn from each other and discover the optimal resources that will transform care.”