Healthcare
See the 15-slide pitch deck a 3D imaging startup used to sell investors on a new approach to telemedicine
subscribers.
Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? .
- Swift Medical has an app that uses AI and 3D imaging to remotely manage wound care.
- The app was primarily designed for nurses and clinicians caring for chronic-wound patients.
- See the presentation that the cofounder and CEO Carlo Perez used to raise $35 million.
If telemedicine is going to stick around, Carlo Perez says a new generation of companies will have to usher in what he calls telehealth 2.0.
Instead of webcams and FaceTime, Perez said, the future of telemedicine uses new technology to provide imaging just as good as, if not better than, that found in top hospitals and clinics around the country.
Six years ago, he started building Swift Medical based on that theory. On Thursday, after the pandemic-induced telemedicine boom, Swift Medical raised $35 million in Series B funding. The round was led by Virgo Investment Group and included participation from an existing investor Data Collective. Perez declined to disclose the company’s valuation.
subscribers.
Become an Insider
and start reading now.
Have an account? .
Swift Medical is part of the generation of companies just starting to hit their strides now that the pandemic has forced clinics and hospitals to rapidly adopt telehealth services during local and nationwide closures.
The company makes an app that is primarily designed for nurses or clinicians caring for patients with chronic wounds, such as those in diabetic patients. It uses 3D image modeling and artificial intelligence to remotely reconstruct the wound digitally for caregivers, including measurements like width and depth that are hard to standardize in traditional care practices. The goal, Perez said, is to provide research-grade imaging technology in different care settings now that many chronic patients are opting to receive care at home and caregivers are more comfortable with remote monitoring technology.
Perez said he and his cofounders, one of whom is a former aerospace engineer who helped develop vision technology for Mars rovers, developed the technology before deciding to use it to treat chronic-wound patients. With the additional funding, Perez said Swift Medical could expand its offerings to include other areas of care in which imaging is critical but similarly lacks a standard practice across clinics in the US.
Without high-quality imaging, home-based care will struggle to become mainstream, Perez said.
“Our goal is to offer research-grade imaging at the bedside, and there are lots of things to image,” Perez said.
Here is the presentation Perez used to raise $35 million in Series B funding for Swift Medical:
Swift Medical makes an app for clinicians and patients to better measure chronic wounds remotely.
Swift Medical
The app uses 3D imaging technology developed by Perez and his cofounder Justin Allport, a former aerospace engineer.
Swift Medical
The app is able to measure wound width and depth as the user waves a smartphone camera around the wound. Perez said he was shocked to learn that wounds were previously measured imperfectly using sticks and rulers.
Swift Medical
Chronic wounds are common in patients experiencing diabetes and other conditions. These patients are often in assisted-living facilities or are home bound, requiring extra care from nurses or other caregivers.
Swift Medical
Home-care nurses or nurses in skilled nursing facilities don’t always get the training they need to properly assess and treat chronic wounds, Perez said. Swift Medical also offers telehealth services so caregivers can share information and images with a specialist over the app.
Swift Medical
Before the pandemic, Swift Medical mainly concentrated on treating patients in assisted living or nursing facilities. Now, though, it has added changes to the app to better treat patients at home who might not have regular access to nursing staff.
Swift Medical
Perez said he predicts that as home-based care becomes more common, more patients and clinicians will look for comprehensive solutions like Swift that can create treatment plans.
Swift Medical
Perez said that large telehealth companies like Teladoc aren’t interested in creating their own versions of Swift Medical’s technology because it takes a lot of time and expertise. Instead, he hopes to work with the larger companies to offer Swift’s technology to a larger group of patients and doctors.
Swift Medical
Perez and his cofounders built the technology before deciding how it could be best used. After observing Dr. Sheila Wang, his other cofounder, treat wound patients in the clinic, the team decided that 3D-imaging technology was critical in creating a better experience for patients.
Swift Medical
During the pandemic, Perez said many wound patients were no longer able to receive care for wounds like bedsores or other chronic conditions because facilities were closed. So they created a version of Swift’s app for patients to use that was simpler but as comprehensive as the app for clinicians. It then sends the images and measurements to caregivers who are not present.
Swift Medical
Doctors can use the images and data to create treatment plans for patients. Perez said he eventually wants Swift to develop preventive plans using the data it’s collected from patients.
Swift Medical
Swift Medical charges clinics and hospitals a fee to use its app. Perez said he knew early on that he had to create a tool that didn’t add to caregivers’ burdens by adding more paperwork or administration chores and instead was easy to download and use with just their smartphones.
Swift Medical
Because chronic-wound patients typically have repeat visits to emergency rooms, Perez said, Swift helps reduce the costs associated with those visits by taking preliminary images in the home or facility the patient is already in.
Swift Medical
Swift Medical’s app is available in all 50 states and roughly 4,100 care facilities. With the additional funding, Perez said he wants to increase the number of facilities that have access to Swift.
Swift Medical
Perez is also thinking about other ways to use the technology and other conditions that require extensive imaging. He said Swift could expand its software for post-operative wound monitoring and other acute wounds, in addition to entirely new conditions.
Swift Medical