Welltok, a US-based digital health company, has raised $22.1m in series C funding led by New Enterprise Associates, with participation from IBM and new investor Qualcomm Incorporated, through its venture capital arm, Qualcomm Ventures. Additional participants in the funding round include existing investors Emergence Capital Partners, InterWest Partners, Miramar Venture Partners and Okapi Venture Capital.
Welltok’s funding in the last nine months totals more than $40m.
Welltok’s platform-as-a-service CaféWell is designed for population health managers to organize the ecosystem of health and wellness solutions and deliver consumer incentives.The funding will be used to develop CaféWell Concierge, which provides consumers with personalized, rewards-based health itineraries, to expand CaféWell across new markets and to connect to new partners.
The investment in Welltok is the first by IBM’s Watson Group, a business unit established in January 2014 by US-based computer maker IBM in order to deploy the cognitive technology of its Watson supercomputer. IBM’s investment supports its partnership with Welltok to build “CaféWell Concierge”, a Watson-based application: Watson will be deployed to learn which itineraries or rewards are most successful in helping consumers reach health goals and refine recommendations accordingly.
Mike Rhodin, senior vice president, IBM Watson Group, said: “This investment and partnership represent IBM’s dedication to fueling innovation that improves lives and our mission to advance the field of health care into the new era of cognitive computing.”