Originally published by HIT Infrastructure on April 19, 2022
April 19, 2022 - Blue Spark Technologies has raised $40 million in intellectual property debt and intends to use the funds to further the development of artificial intelligence-based wearable remote patient monitoring solutions.
The growth funding led by California-based hedge fund Ghost Tree Partners with support from Aon plc will also accelerate company sales and market functions, Blue Spark Technology said.
“Blue Spark has leading-edge technology backed by clinical research and results,” Mark Fox, managing partner at Ghost Tree Partners, said. “We are excited to support the company’s next phase of growth and accelerate the company’s innovative patient monitoring solutions to healthcare and life-sciences providers worldwide.”
TempTraq, Blue Spark Technologies’ remote body temperature monitoring patch, offers healthcare providers a continuous stream of real-time patient data outside of the traditional clinical environment.
“TempTraq has been clinically proven to accurately detect fevers much earlier than the current standard of care,” said John Gannon, president, and CEO of Blue Spark Technologies. “Having Ghost Tree’s support and expertise will be invaluable as we continue to expand our remote patient monitoring solutions to the market.”
The disposable patch monitors patients for fevers for up to 72 hours, providing clinicians with a more efficient method to measure temperature in both inpatient and outpatient settings, the press release stated. Earlier fever detection can significantly improve patient care and patient outcomes, Blue Spark Technologies said.
Wearable remote patient monitoring has been gaining popularity among healthcare systems and providers across the nation. Healthcare experts predict that by 2022, 320 million consumer health and wellness wearable devices will ship worldwide.
“Hospitals are seeking to improve patient care, reduce readmissions, optimize reimbursements and gain competitive advantage,” added Gannon.
Other health IT companies raising capital include Zephyr AI, a health IT startup, which landed $18.5 million in seed round funding to advance precision medicine and drug discovery through machine learning and extensive data sets.
The company uses big data, machine learning, and analysis of structured biological networks and longitudinal outcomes to draw new insights targeting patient care, patient outcomes, and drug development cost, the press release stated.
Zephyr AI will be prioritizing industry partnerships to increase its data access and machine-learning pipelines. By gathering additional datasets, the startup can generate insight for better outcomes in patient care and drug discovery.