program designed to help Wisconsin-based startups get access to more funding, raised $4.9 million from investors. That brings the total amount the fund has raised since launching last year to $13 million. The Idea Fund has yet to make its first investment, but currently has “a number of businesses under active diligence,” said managing partner Jonathon Horne.
—The co-founder and longtime leader of Cerner (NASDAQ: [[ticker:CERN]]), a Kansas City, MO-based healthcare software company that many consider the chief rival of Verona-based Epic Systems, died last weekend due to unexpected cancer complications, the Kanas City Star reported. Neal Patterson co-founded Cerner in 1979, and in subsequent decades oversaw the growth of the electronic health records software developer. In a statement, Epic founder and CEO Judy Faulkner said that her “deepest condolences go out to Neal’s family, friends, and colleagues. For nearly four decades, Neal’s vision and spirit helped transform the healthcare landscape in a way that will have a lasting impact for generations to come.”
—Madison-based Forward Health Group, which develops digital tools that allow its healthcare-industry customers to pool patient data from various sources in order to glean actionable insights, agreed to license its software to Waltham, MA-based Fresenius Medical Care North America. That organization, part of Germany-based Fresenius Medical Care (NYSE: [[ticker:FMS]]), operates more than 2,200 dialysis clinics in the U.S.
