Kaia Health Secures $8 Million Funding to Advance AI-Powered Digital Therapies for Chronic Pain

On September 29, 2019, VCBeat (WeChat ID: vcbeat) learned that digital health company Kaia Health announced the completion of an $8 million financing round. The round was led by Optum Ventures.

Kaia Health plans to use the funds from this financing round to support clinical trials of its AI-powered digital therapeutic for back pain and to expand the technology to other chronic indications. Additionally, Kaia Health’s AI lab will develop digital biomarkers for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), osteoarthritis, and Parkinson’s disease.

According to the US Bone and Joint Initiative, a sedentary lifestyle and prolonged office hours increase the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders.

Kaia Health, founded on October 15, 2015, and headquartered in New York, USA, is a digital health company. The company leverages multimodal therapy, integrating physical, psychological, and educational components, to enable patients to alleviate musculoskeletal pain at home without medication.

Kaia Health has developed a smartphone-based application, Motion Coach. As a “physical therapist in your pocket,” Motion Coach tailors appropriate exercise regimens for patients with chronic pain. This therapy leverages the latest research findings in mindfulness and pain science to help patients alleviate pain through gentle and effective methods.

During exercise, Motion Coach’s virtual trainers observe the patient’s movements via camera and provide real-time feedback. Users can complete personalized workouts in just 15 minutes a day, improving their physical condition anytime, anywhere at home.

Motion Coach can help users manage a range of chronic conditions, such as musculoskeletal disorders (MSK) and chronic back pain. To date, more than 275,000 users have participated in Kaia Health’s digital therapeutic programs.

Kaia Health completed a peer-reviewed study in May 2019, which was published in NPJ Digital Medicine. The study showed that patients using Kaia Health’s AI-powered digital therapeutics had significantly lower pain levels than those in the control group who received traditional therapy.

Heather Roxborough, Partner at Optum Ventures, stated, “Kaia Health has leveraged AI technology to create a digital therapeutic that makes treatment more accessible for patients. Kaia Health’s digital therapeutic solution will benefit patients with musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, and we look forward to its application in other indications.”

Konstantin Mehl, Founder and CEO of Kaia Health, stated, “The investment from Optum Ventures will enable us to deliver better services throughout the patient treatment journey. We are honored to partner with Optum Ventures, a company dedicated to improving the healthcare sector.”

Optum Ventures, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, is a venture capital firm. The company provides capital and strategic guidance to startups in the healthcare sector to meet patients’ treatment needs.

(Compiled by Hu Yifan)