WEconnect Secures $6.05M Series A Funding to Advance Addiction Recovery App

VCBeat (WeChat: vcbeat) has learned that on October 18, 2018, local time, WEconnect, a healthcare technology company headquartered in Washington, U.S., announced it had raised $6.05 million in Series A financing. Investors participating in this round included Fred Luddy, founder of ServiceNow; Larry Leeds Jr. from Buckingham Capital; Andrew Wilkinson, founder of Metalab; and Tim Kerr, CEO of Venturehouse Group, among others. Previously, WEconnect had completed four rounds of early-stage financing totaling $2.1 million. The company’s latest valuation following this Series A round has not been disclosed.

This round of financing will be primarily used for the market promotion and technological enhancement of its products.

WEconnect’s flagship product is a namesake mobile application launched in 2016, designed primarily to support patients with drug and alcohol addiction in achieving abstinence and recovery during the first year after treatment. It is currently used by thousands of patients across the United States.

 Daniela Luzi Tudor and Murphy Jensen, Founders of WEconnect

WEconnect’s founding team members, Daniela Luzi Tudor and Murphy Jensen, have both struggled with substance abuse, which inspired their commitment to helping more people overcome addiction. Tudor, CEO of WEconnect, stated that she has seen many patients suffer from drug and alcohol addiction. While most of them are eager for recovery and willing to undergo treatment, they often face a lack of resources and must fight their battles alone once they leave rehabilitation facilities.

“Ninety percent of addicts I know relapse within 60 days of receiving treatment,” said Tudor.

It is reported that approximately 26 million people across the United States are currently affected by substance abuse. In a statement, Tim Kerr, an investor at WeConnect, said, “Drug and alcohol addiction in the United States results in annual economic losses of $442 billion and has devastated the lives of millions.”

As the first comprehensive application designed for recovery from drug and alcohol addiction, WEconnect primarily provides online support for patients who have recently left treatment facilities. It helps build a communication bridge between patients and their supervisors. Additionally, the app sets phased rehabilitation tasks for patients, such as prayer, meditation, and exercise, and offers certain rewards upon completion of these tasks.

This app is typically used to implement patient follow-up treatment plans. Through its proprietary relapse risk scoring algorithm, it helps prioritize patient care and enables supervisors to assess the risk of relapse before patients exhibit relapse behaviors, thereby facilitating timely intervention.

In addition to its use in patient treatment, WeConnect also sells its software to therapy institutions to help them deliver technology to patients while tracking treatment plan procedures and validating outcome data. Its ultimate goal is to partner with commercial insurance companies and participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs. In the future, WeConnect may expand from the field of drug and alcohol addiction recovery into areas such as dietary management and domestic violence.

WEconnect, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, USA, is a healthcare technology company dedicated to serving individuals in recovery. It was founded in 2015 by former French Open champion Murphy Jensen and tech entrepreneur Daniela Luzi Tudor.