Wireless Health Innovators…“Where are they now?”

Nominations open next week for the 2012 TripleTree I Award, our annual recognition of innovations in wireless health.  Messaging from new market entrants to physicians, payers, and most notably consumers is fueling a strong venture capital appetite, and looking back at the I Award finalists since 2009, we thought it was useful to list a few notable accomplishments.

Public Markets

Nominations open next week for the 2012 TripleTree I Award, our annual recognition of innovations in wireless health.  Messaging from new market entrants to physicians, payers, and most notably consumers is fueling a strong venture capital appetite, and looking back at the I Award finalists since 2009, we thought it was useful to list a few notable accomplishments.

Public Markets

• Epocrates – The first mobile healthcare company to successfully go public in early 2011 raising $86m

Funding

• Airstrip Technologies – Received an undisclosed amount of funding from Sequoia Capital
• IntelliDOT – Raised $30m+ from leading investors including Psilos Group, TPG Growth, Camden Partners, Integral Capital Partners, J.F. Shea Ventures, Menlo Ventures and American River Ventures
• Proteus Biomedical – Raised $25m from Medtronic, Novartis, and ON Semiconductor Corp
• TelaDoc – Raised $18m from Cardinal Partners, HLM Venture Partners, Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers, New Capital Partners, and Trident Capital

FDA Approval

• Calgary Scientific – ResolutionMD^TM  after 23 months received 510(k) clearance from the FDA
• Telcare – Wireless blood glucose meter received 510(k) clearance from the FDA for its device, Telcare BGM

Acquisition

• CellTrak Technologies – Expanded into Canada through its acquisition of MedShare mobile technology for home health care
• Healthagen – Patient access software to providers acquired by Aetna

Since TripleTree’s I Award inception in 2009, one company has gone public, one has been acquired, numerous rounds of funding have been raised, multiple FDA approvals granted, and some businesses have scaled nicely.  As the market continues to mature and awareness and user adoption grow, questions loom…

• Is “connected health” on the verge of a breakout?
• Are wireless health solutions the answer for reduced healthcare costs and improved quality of care?
• Will innovation be driven by non-traditional healthcare vendors (ie device vendors and mobile service providers)?
• How are the ramifications of reform influencing innovation?

As we consider these questions, a few key indicators are influencing the market:

• Four out of five physicians use smartphones, computer tablets, and other mobile devices (Jackson & Coker industry report)
• More than $600m has been invested in the wireless health space since January 2010
• 89% of healthcare decision makers believe telehealth will transform healthcare in the next 10 years (Penn Schoen Berland Study)

Below is the honor roll of past I Award finalists.  Look for more information from TripleTree in the coming weeks as the nomination process commences and we plan for the WLSA Wireless Health Convergence Summit scheduled for May 22-24 in San Diego.

Joanna Roth

Joanna Roth is a Senior Analyst at TripleTree covering the healthcare and technology industry, specializing in education solutions. Follow Joanna on Twitter or e-mail her at jroth@triple-tree.com.