California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) has invested $1.5m in IRhythm Technologies, a US-based medical device maker backed by peers St Jude Medical and Kaiser Permanente’s corporate venturing units.
Alongside this investment, CHCF is planning to fund studies testing IRhythm’s products at two Californian hospitals.
Margaret Laws, director of the Innovations for the Uninsured Program at CHCF and manager of the CHCF Health Innovation Fund, said: “IRhythm’s Zio Patch technology [pictured] has the potential to increase access to timely diagnosis and care for patient populations in both rural and urban environments.
“The simplicity of their approach to ambulatory cardiac monitoring minimizes logistics, promotes increased patient compliance, and streamlines the process for patients and clinicians.”
CHCF said its $1.5m investment in IRhythm was its largest to date. Its other deals are: Lifewave ($950,000), Pipeline ($750,000), CareInSync ($500,000), DirecDerm ($240,000), Asthmapolis ($197,000) and Sirum ($46,000).
Kevin King, executive president of IRhythm since July after he replaced Bill Willis, said: “We are proud to add the California HealthCare Foundation to our list of respected venture and corporate investors, which includes Kaiser Permanente Ventures, and look forward to working with CHCF to demonstrate the access improvement and cost-savings potential of our solution.”
In October last year, IRhythm extended its C round by $7m to add Kaiser Permanente Ventures and said its director, Sam Brasch, had joined its board.
In May last year, IRhythm raised $15m in its series C round from a consortium including St Jude Medical, a US-based healthcare technology provider.
Venture capital firm New Leaf Venture Partners led the C round as a new investor, and was joined by peers Mohr Davidow Ventures and Synergy Life Science Partners as well as St Jude.
In May 2010, St Jude led a $10m investment round in IRhythm Technologies to market its heart monitor to customers.
Mohr Davidow Ventures and Synergy Life Science Partners, alongside Stanford University and UNC Kenan-Flagler Private Equity Fund, backed the 2009-vintage $6.5m series A extension that was added to the initial $12.5m raised in 2007, according to news provider VentureWire.