Health Startup Athelas Hits $1.5 Billion Valuation After Pandemic Boom

(Bloomberg) -- Athelas Inc., a startup that builds remote patient monitoring technology, raised $132 million in new funding, bringing its valuation to $1.5 billion.

Founded in 2016, Athelas experienced sharp growth last year, spurred in part by a shift to remote care during the Covid-19 pandemic. Athelas now has 20,000 active monthly users, 10 times the number of active patients it had in the beginning of 2021, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Tanay Tandon said.

“The pandemic really showed folks that health care in the home has to be a thing and in a lot of ways is better than the traditional care model,” Tandon said.

Athelas' primary product is the Athelas One, an internet-connected device that uses a finger-prick to return blood diagnostics and shares that information with healthcare providers. The product, which has been approved by the Federal Drug Administration, is geared toward patients who are immunocompromised or have chronic conditions that need frequent monitoring. Tandon said remote monitoring allows doctors to address health issues earlier, potentially avoiding the pricier costs of more intensive treatment or hospitalization down the road.

“We're spending so much money down the funnel,” Tandon said of the cost of long-term and late-stage care. “If we spend a little bit more upfront using tools like Athelas and using remote patient monitoring and chronic care management programs, I think we can drastically cut down hospitalization rates.”

In addition to Athelas One, the Mountain View, California-based company has a suite of products that track metrics like blood pressure, weight and glucose levels. One of the newest products, PillTrack, allows doctors to monitor when patients are taking their medications. Tandon said that while Athelas could someday sell its products directly to consumers, the company is focusing on working with healthcare professionals and systems for now.

Earlier this month, Athelas began a partnership with Horizon Family Medical Group in New York to monitor immunocompromised and chronic hypertensive patients. The company also has a partnership with the California state hospital system helping to monitor patients with schizophrenia.

“We want to give tools and build tools for the experts and we want to work closely with them rather than try to circumvent the existing system,” Tandon said. “That's why our goal is to partner very closely with those health systems that know what they're doing and are treating patients at scale today.”

Athelas raised $132 million in two consecutive funding rounds, led by General Catalyst and Tribe Capital. Sequoia Capital has backed Athelas from the beginning.

Since meeting Tandon in 2016, Sequoia Partner Alfred Lin has watched the company grow from a single product into a remote patient monitoring platform for people with chronic conditions. Lin said he is most excited about Athelas' partnerships with smaller patient practices where the company can have a more hands-on role in helping to create better health outcomes.

“I think the company is just in the very early innings. I'm very excited about the future of digital health and how Athelas will play in this category,” Lin said. “We've just seen them continuing to evolve their thinking and becoming better and better.”