Healthcare
Here’s the 11-slide presentation digital-health startup Podimetrics used to land $45 million for its remote-monitoring tech
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- Remote-monitoring startup Podimetrics pulled in a $45 million Series C round in March.
- The company’s tech helps prevent amputations in patients with diabetes.
- Podimetrics partners with health plans to provide its temperature-detecting mat to patients at home.
The diabetes-care market is booming. With dozens of digital-health companies like Livongo and Omada Health offering solutions for managing the chronic disease, the worldwide market for type 2 diabetes was worth $29.8 billion last year, and analysts expect that number to double by 2030.
Podimetrics is tapping into the market from a different angle — preventing diabetic amputations.
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Jon Bloom — the CEO of Podimetrics and a former anesthesiologist — said he remembers spending days in the operating room helping surgeons perform amputations. Amputations in diabetic patients make up about 130,000 of the 200,000 total amputations performed in the US each year.
Bloom and his cofounder David Linders — who is now the chief technology officer at Podimetrics — started the company in 2011 as graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. Together, they set out to create remote-monitoring technology to identify inflammation in the feet of diabetic patients before the patients would need amputations.
In March, the company announced it had raised $45 million in Series C funding. D1 Capital Partners led the round, joined by the Medtech Convergence Fund, an undisclosed strategic investor, and existing investors Polaris Partners and Scientific Health Development. Since its founding, Podimetrics has raised $73 million.
Bloom said the company’s tech, a heat-sensing mat, has been commercially available since 2017. Patients step on the mat for 17 seconds each day, and the mat collects data on temperature changes in the feet, looking for “hot spots” of dying tissue that aren’t receiving proper blood flow.
If the mat detects a persistent hot spot, Podimetrics’ virtual clinical team helps the patient either by providing techniques to help them address it on their own — like avoiding putting weight on the inflamed side for a period of time to allow it to heal — or by directing them to an in-person doctor.
Podimetrics provided Insider with the presentation it used to land the $45 million round. According to a Podimetrics spokesperson, the presentation was edited to remove sensitive or proprietary company information.
Here’s the 11-slide presentation Podimetrics used to raise $45 million in Series C funding.
Podimetrics helps diabetic patients avoid lower-limb amputations with its remote-monitoring tech, a mat that users stand on for 17 seconds each day.
Podimetrics
The company’s FDA-approved mat measures temperature changes in the feet when a patient stands on it, looking for “hot spots” of inflammation where there is damaged tissue.
Podimetrics
Bloom said identifying and responding to those hot spots quickly can help patients avoid infections and amputations.
Bloom said there are countless billing codes related to diabetic amputations, so health insurers often aren’t aware of how big the problem is.
Podimetrics
About a third of patients around the world with type 2 diabetes have cardiovascular disease. Peripheral-artery disease, where patients experience blocked blood vessels typically in the legs and feet, is one type of cardiovascular disease.
Patients are also at a greater risk of blocked blood vessels as they age. Roughly 29% of diabetic patients over the age of 50 have peripheral-artery disease.
Lower-limb ailments — including amputations and infections from a lack of blood flow — comprise up to a third of diabetes-care costs.
Podimetrics
A third of patients with diabetes globally will develop a diabetic foot ulcer in their lifetimes resulting from lack of blood flow, which can necessitate an amputation if the patient doesn’t seek treatment.
Bloom said equity is core to Podimetrics’ business model — Black Americans are at disproportionate risk for diabetic amputations.
Podimetrics
In a clinical trial of Podimetrics’ technology conducted in partnership with Kaiser Permanente, nearly two-thirds of the study participants were Black.
By partnering with health plans, Podimetrics gets paid when patients use the mat a minimum number of times per month. Bloom said insurers can also choose to purchase Podimetrics’ services on an annual basis, which includes mats and clinical support from the company.
Podimetrics
Bloom said the company negotiates with insurers to get paid when patients use the mat at least twice a week, which he said is enough for the mat to collect sufficient data on temperature changes in the feet.
Podimetrics employs nurses that review information produced by the mat and guide the patient through next steps. That team is now entirely virtual.
Podimetrics
The FDA-approved Podimetrics’ mat in 2015. The company has completed eight clinical studies since then to back up its technology.
Podimetrics
Bloom said Podimetrics is now taking risks on outcomes like hospitalization rates and amputation rates. Reducing their prevalence can significantly decrease the total cost of care, he said.
Podimetrics
Since clinical evidence now supports its mat, Podimetrics is shifting to research outcomes and costs of care for diabetic patients, Bloom said.
Podimetrics
As the market shakes up, Bloom said Podimetrics hasn’t seen any changes to its growth — in fact, “our patient is probably more worried than ever,” he said.
Podimetrics