It’s a good day for two young San Francisco digital health companies that combine technology with human workers as they try to help doctors make patient care more effective. Both Augmedix and Vida Health announced double-digit fundraising rounds.
Augmedix, which uses Google Glass as an aid to doctors who take notes as they examine patients, raised $23 million to scale up its customer base. The company says its service improves doctor-patient communication while allowing physicians to see more patients per day. Rather than crouching over a laptop to make entries in electronic medical records during an office visit, doctors use microphone-equipped Google Glass to communicate with off-site Augmedix “scribes” who take down the information. On the screen of the smartglasses, doctors can also review relevant data from the patient’s medical history during the visit.
Augmedix, founded in 2012 by CEO Ian Shakil, counts hundreds of doctors and five healthcare systems among its customers—-including Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), Dignity Health, Sutter Health and TriHealth, which each joined in the company’s $17 million fundraising round in April.
In the fundraising announced today, new investors McKesson Ventures and OrbiMed joined prior investors Redmile Group, Emergence Capital and DCM Ventures. The additional $23 million in capital brings Augmedix’s total fundraising to more than $60 million.
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Vida Health, which connects patients with health coaches who help them adopt disease-fighting lifestyle changes, raised $18 million in a Series B fundraising round led by Canvas Ventures, with participation from Nokia Growth Partners and previous investor Aspect Ventures.
Vida’s service can be used by healthy individuals who want to fend off illness, or by patients following doctor’s orders to improve their health habits and lessen the toll of conditions such as diabetes. Depending on users’ needs, Vida matches them with mentors such as nutritionists, therapists, and exercise trainers. Individuals can pay for the service through the company’s smartphone app, but Vida also markets the system to employers as a benefit that can keep a workforce healthy.
In addition to human coaches, Vida connects users to their own online support groups recruited from among their friends, family members, doctors, and others who encourage their behavioral changes. The app also assembles patient data from sources such as lab reports and devices like Fitbits.
More than 30,000 people have used the service since Vida was co-founded in 2014 by CEO Stephanie Tilenius, the startup says. Employers working with the app include eBay, Steelcase, UnitedHealthcare, and medical centers Duke Medicine and Stanford Medicine.
