Evidation Health Secures $45 Million Series D Funding to Advance Its Digital Health Virtual Research Platform

Recently, VCBeat (WeChat official account: vcbeat) learned that health data analytics platform Evidation Health has completed a $45 million Series D financing round led by B Capital Group. The company will use the funds to continue developing its virtual research platform and build new digital health tools.

In 2012, GE Ventures and Stanford Health Care (Stanford University Medical Center) collaborated to establish Evidation Health, a company dedicated to evaluating the efficacy of digital health technologies. The company developed a big data platform that collects and analyzes user behavioral data and healthcare information via wearable devices, thereby generating more accurate health insights. This enables startups to better understand which digital health technologies positively impact health outcomes.

Stanford Health Care (Stanford University Medical Center) provides diagnosis and treatment for a wide range of general and complex conditions, as well as emergency care, to patients across the United States and around the world. Its specialty services include liver transplantation, cancer diagnosis and treatment, cardiovascular medicine and surgery, and its world-renowned clinical neuroscience program. The institution is committed to delivering optimal diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes, along with exceptional service and care coordination.

GE Ventures is the venture capital arm of GE (General Electric), focusing on investments in software, healthcare, advanced manufacturing, and energy to help startups achieve their strategic objectives. GE is the world’s largest multinational corporation providing technology and services, with its headquarters in Boston, USA. The company is committed to continuous innovation, invention, and reinvention, transforming ideas into leading products and services. Its business drives global economic development and improves people’s living conditions.

As a health data analytics platform, how has Evidation Health built its virtual research platform? What breakthroughs has it achieved in scientific research? What value can it bring to the digital health industry? VCBeat will follow this logic to outline Evidation Health’s products, corporate team, and other information, aiming to provide insights for health data analytics platforms.

From the outset, Evidation’s business model has been to compensate participants for sharing their health data and then, over time, obtain their informed consent for new data access and usage. After accumulating vast amounts of health behavior data, Evidation analyzes and processes these data to generate insights into digital health for corporate reference and research. Thus, the prototype of Evidation’s data platform was established.

The Evidation big data platform consists of three modules: data collection, data processing, and data analysis. How do they work together to build a virtual research platform? We have summarized the following content:

1. Data Collection:
Evidation’s data platform captures over one trillion data points annually. These data are integrated through a virtual study design and execution engine that combines real-world data with traditional clinical data. The engine complies with federal privacy and research regulations, as well as Good Clinical Practice (GCP).

Evidation’s technology, grounded in rigorous scientific disciplines and stringent selection criteria, enables the collection of relevant real-world data points and their transformation into actionable insights for pharmaceutical companies. Evidation’s technology provides new avenues for patients and biopharmaceutical companies to understand and respond to health conditions in real-life settings.

2. Data Processing:

Before entering the data pool, these raw data must undergo standardization and anonymization. This process analyzes the raw data based on condition-related features, excluding non-standard or problematic entries.

3. Data Analysis:

Users can create their own data slices from the data pool and select tools such as cohorts, variables, and features for direct analysis to construct digital biomarkers.

Digital biomarkers have become a reality and are widely used in the field of digital health, such as diabetes management, atrial fibrillation screening, and early prevention of skin diseases. By leveraging biomarkers, clinicians can improve the quality of diagnosis or disease treatment in practice, reducing the social and economic impact of diseases.

In a statement, Evidation stated that “the Evidation big data platform provides real-world clinical evidence for digital health products and platforms by combining health outcomes data with novel predictive analytics approaches to identify and deploy the most effective patient management strategies and interventions.” In other words, Evidation aims to help distinguish which digital health technologies are truly effective, which are ineffective, and which are merely hype.

How Did Evidation Stand Out Among Numerous Big Data Platforms? We Have Outlined the Following Initiatives:

1. Establishing Basic Trust:Evidation maintains close engagement with users throughout the study period. It earns participants’ trust by optimizing the participant experience in a self-service model, safeguarding user data privacy and security, and providing technologies that measure daily functioning in ways unattainable through traditional clinical research.

2. Focus on Data Integrity and Quality:Evidation’s technical systems can collect precise raw data in a compatible environment, minimize reporting errors, and ensure the integrity and quality of patient-reported data, remote data collection, and digital measurements.

3. Automatic screening of user data:Evidation designs a series of questions to ensure that the collected data is verified before submission, enabling automated quality checks on the backend.

Evidation Health has completed six rounds of financing since its inception, raising a total of $116 million, with its Series D round recently closed. From both product development and business model perspectives, Evidation Health has reached a highly mature stage.

Evidation's Funding History

Shortly after its establishment, Evidation merged with Activity Exchange, a platform that aggregates data from numerous fitness apps and devices; the company aims to help insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies better engage with users. Stanford Health Care is developing new care delivery models, leveraging its advanced resources to provide comprehensive patient care.

In January 2015, Evidation raised $6.2 million in a funding round led by GE Ventures, with participation from Asset Management Ventures and Rock Health. As of March 2015, Evidation had established corporate and academic partnerships with Humana, Biogen Idec, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

In October 2016, Evidation Health announced the completion of a $15 million Series B financing round, led by B Capital Group. The company stated that amid rising demand, the new funding would help scale its operations and enhance its machine learning engine for behavioral data analysis. The capital will also support Evidation’s digital biomarker development initiatives and expand the company’s user reach.

In August 2018, Evidation raised $30 million in its Series C venture capital financing. The company announced the launch of a new data platform that enables its clients to analyze and process large-scale sensor and behavioral data with clinical significance. In addition to supporting the new data platform, the funding will be used to establish partnerships, expand Evidation’s real-world data sources, and conduct new research to better understand and measure the interplay between daily behaviors and health.

On July 1, 2020, Evidation completed a $45 million Series D financing round. The company will use these funds to continue developing its platform and leverage the insights derived from it to build new digital health tools. The company will also utilize this capital to expand its research solutions business and deliver programs that enable members to obtain clinically actionable health knowledge.

Evidation Health inDigital Biomarkers and Diagnostics, and Quantification of Patient Disease Progressionhave achieved significant breakthroughs in areas such as.

On February 13, 2018, Evidation Health announced the launch of “Discover,” a chronic pain study involving 10,000 participants. The study aims to quantify chronic pain through activity trackers, health applications, and other more traditional data points, and to develop digital biomarkers for measuring the severity of chronic pain and quality of life.

The proliferation of wearable devices and sensors has made continuous monitoring of patients and their daily activities possible. The physiological and behavioral data collected by wearable devices can provide significant support for clinical research.

In 2019, Evidation conducted a study on cognitive impairment. After obtaining informed consent from participants, the Evidation Health platform collected data from 113 participants aged 60 to 75 years (31 with cognitive impairment and 82 without) by having them use wearable devices and digital applications, including iPhones, Apple Watches, iPads with smart keyboards, and Beddit sleep monitoring devices with associated apps. The study assessed multiple dimensions, including one-on-one questionnaire responses, sleep quality, exercise habits, reading speed, and typing speed. The findings suggested that data collected from smart devices and digital applications may help accelerate the early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease.

Additionally, EvidationEpidemic Prevention and Control MonitoringSignificant progress has also been achieved.

In March 2020, Evidation Health launched a study to examine the impact of the pandemic on the daily behaviors of the U.S. population. Evidation enrolled 160,000 American participants and collected data from 68,000 fitness trackers (such as Apple Watch, Fitbit, and Garmin smartwatches). The study found that during the pandemic, physical activity among Americans decreased, sleep duration increased, anxiety levels rose, and there was a growing willingness to consult physicians via telephone or the internet.

In June 2020, Evidation partnered with BARDA (the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) to develop an early warning system for monitoring individuals for respiratory infections. Building on its existing influenza research, which leverages user-generated health data and population-based models, Evidation aims to achieve real-time surveillance of respiratory infections at both the individual and population levels. As part of BARDA’s COVID-19 Rapid Deployment Capability initiative, the agency provided $720,000 in funding to validate and pilot this innovative near-term solution for COVID-19.

Christine Lemke

Evidation Health shares an indissoluble bond with its founder, Christine. Christine suffers from a rare genetic disorder that causes arthritis and spondylitis, often resulting in chronic back pain. In the United States, nearly 100 million people are afflicted by chronic pain. For decades, effectively measuring pain has remained a persistent challenge. Most pain assessments rely on subjective evaluations by physicians and patients; however, this approach is inherently limited due to individual variations in pain tolerance. This reality prompted Christine to consider how cutting-edge technology could better quantify chronic pain, a solution that would need to be grounded in extensive clinical data. Driven by this vision, Christine Lemke co-founded Evidation Health in 2012 alongside Alessio Signorini, Luca Foschini, and Mikki Nasch.

All four founders possess profound expertise in the fields of data research and platform development.

Christine is the Co-Founder and President of Evidation Health. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Washington and an MBA from HEC Paris. Previously, she served as Chief Operating Officer at Sense Networks, a developer of machine learning platforms. Christine was also a Co-Founder and COO of Sense Networks, the first company to develop a machine learning platform for mobile activity data. Her strong academic background in management, combined with years of executive experience in healthcare companies, has enabled Evidation to achieve robust operational excellence.

Alessio SignoriniHe is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Evidation Health, with extensive research in machine learning and computational epidemiology, and has published significant papers in the fields of computer science, computational epidemiology, and social networks.

(Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Alessio Signorin, Co-Founder and President Christine Lemke)

Mikki Naschis Co-Founder and Vice President of Business Development at Evidation Health. At Evidation, Mikki oversees revenue and strategic business development.

Luca FoschiniHe is the Co-founder and Chief Data Scientist at Evidation Health, where he oversees data analytics and research and development. At Evidation, he has driven platform-based data research and collaborations, and has published numerous articles in the fields of machine learning, behavioral economics, and medical informatics.

(Co-Founder and Chief Data Scientist Luca Foschini Co-Founder and Vice President of Business Development Mikki Nasch)

Evidation Health has engaged in extensive collaborations with academic institutions, healthcare companies, and wearable device providers, achieving significant progress in areas such as digital biomarkers, cognitive impairment, and atrial fibrillation. VCBeat has compiled a chronological overview of some of Evidation’s key partnership developments in recent years.

In December 2018, the company expanded its collaboration with Eli Lilly to develop digital biomarkers across therapeutic areas of major pharmaceutical companies. For instance, it captures real-world data from patients’ continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps to help Eli Lilly build its connected diabetes product ecosystem. Evidation also partners with Sanofi to collect patient behavioral data aimed at improving medication adherence.

In August 2019, early results from a study conducted jointly by Evidation Health, Eli Lilly, and Apple Inc. showed that the combined use of Apple wearable devices, mobile devices, digital applications, and sleep sensors enabled the detection of cognitive decline and mild Alzheimer’s disease.

Smart devices and digital applications can improve health outcomes, but it remains unclear how to leverage these resources to identify and accelerate diagnosis. The results of this trial lay the foundation for future research that may help in the earlier identification of individuals with neurodegenerative diseases.

In February this year, Apple Inc. and Johnson & Johnson announced the launch of the Heartline study, which investigates the early detection of atrial fibrillation using the Apple Watch. Evidation Health provides technical support and research operations for the study, enabling Heartline participants to detect atrial fibrillation earlier, thereby reducing the risk of stroke (atrial fibrillation is a leading cause of stroke).

The company stated in its press release, “Eight of the top ten biopharmaceutical companies are its partners.” Evidation can provide them with sensor data, patient-reported outcomes, and home diagnostic information.

Evidation has also engaged in extensive collaborations with industry, academia, government, and civil society, including the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Partners can benefit from Evidation’s behavioral analytics platform. The company’s research partners can query anonymized data according to their needs and use the platform to recruit and enroll participants outside of clinical settings.

Evidation recently announced plans to continue collaborating with existing clients and academic partners, including Humana, Biogen, Sanofi, Harvard Business School, and the Wharton School, and will work with other healthcare systems in the future to study digital health interventions.