Virtual cardiac care company Heartbeat Health scored $20 million in a Series B funding round. Echo Health Ventures led the round, with participation from DaVita Venture Group, .406 Ventures, Optum Ventures, Kindred Ventures, Lerer Hippeau, Designer Fund and Max Ventures.

This new infusion of cash builds on the company's $8.2 million Series A round of funding, which closed in 2020. As of today, Heartbeat said it has more than $30 million in funding.

WHAT THEY DO

Heartbeat Health has created an app that provides video visits, as well as remote monitoring services. The tool is focused on using digital tools to aggregate heart data and provide care management to patients.

Patients are able to use the tool to find a cardiologist and get personalized coaching and care based on their needs. Users can upload and share vitals from wearables and other personal devices. The app can also alert patients when to take their heart medication.

"The basic model is to ... identify [patients'] risk using various data sources, whether it's their wearables or biometric screening or primary-care testing. Then bring them to a telecardiology platform to establish a patient-doctor relationship," Dr. Jeff Wessler, cardiologist and CEO of Heartbeat Health, told MobiHealthNews in a 2020 interview. "Then explain and teach what cardiovascular risk is, what the blood pressure means and how it can be managed, and what the goals for various risk factors are."

WHAT IT'S FOR

The company plans to use the new money for research and development. A portion will also go toward expanding clinical services offered to at-risk organizations.

“From the beginning, Heartbeat focused on evidence-based care, patient outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and clinical tools for cardiologists built by cardiologists. With this focus, they have already emerged as a market leader in a new model of patient-focused care for heart health,” Jessica Zeaske, a partner at Echo Health Ventures who will join the board of directors at Heartbeat, said in a statement. “Echo Health Ventures looks forward to partnering with Heartbeat Health to address the critical issues of cardiovascular disease prevention and management through Heartbeat’s platform and new model of value-based care.”

THE LARGER TREND

According to the CDC, heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Innovators and providers are looking to use digital to help tackle issues related to heart health. In 2020, Ultromics, maker of an AI-supported cardiac decision support tool, landed $10 million.

Another name in cardiac health is RhythmAnalytics, which landed a 510(k) clearance for its cloud-based software product that uses deep learning to read and interpret cardiac arrhythmias.  

Big tech is also joining in the heart health space. Apple was the first to add an ECG to its consumer wearable in 2018. Since then Fitbit, Withings and Samsung have all added ECG features.