Bush, Draper Back Health IT Startup Wellframe as Sector Heats Up

The world of health IT apps just got more competitive.

Boston-based startup Wellframe said today it has raised $1.5 million in seed funding from some big names: Jonathan Bush, CEO of Athenahealth; Tim Draper, founder and managing director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson; Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, president of the British Medical Association; Russ Nash, former global managing director at Accenture; Carl Byers, venture partner at Fidelity Biosciences; James Nahirny, founder and managing partner at Leerink Capital Partners; and others.

Wellframe is led by CEO Jacob Sattelmair. The company graduated from the Rock Health accelerator in San Francisco in early 2013. It makes mobile apps to help patients connect with their doctors and caregivers in a more personalized way.

Wellframe is focusing first on cardiology patients—in particular, cardiac rehabilitation for people who have had a heart attack. The Wellframe app includes a daily task list for patients and a private social network to connect patients with clinicians and family members. From what I can tell, the app also collects data on patient behavior and uses artificial-intelligence techniques to try to give doctors insights into what’s happening between hospital visits.

Personal health is an emerging sector for tech startups. Some are doing it with smartphones and apps, like RunKeeper and Ginger.io, while others are working on wearable sensors and software, like Quanttus and Bobo Analytics. Meanwhile, the rest of the world waits to see what giants like Apple and Google are building in healthtech.

Author: Gregory T. Huang

Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003. Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.