Nursa's $80m raise leads recent digital health financings

A steady stream of fundraising in the digital health category this month was headed by a $80 million second round by Nursa, a digital platform designed to prevent hospital staff shortages, with TytoCare, QuantHealth, Visana, and Endear also getting top-up funding.

Nursa's Series B was led by Drive Capital and joined by existing partners Pelion and Kickstart, and will be used to extend its staffing platform, which enables healthcare facilities to fill shifts with qualified nurses from their community, to include other disciplines like tech, administration, and healthcare legislation.

The company has also added to its management team with the hiring of chief product, technology, and revenue officers who will be tasked with overseeing the expansion programme. The round takes the total raised by Nursa to date above the $100 million mark.

Virtual healthcare company TytoCare has raised $49 million from four investors – led by established investor Insight Partners, with new backers MemorialCare, Clal, and Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan – to investigate additional uses of its artificial intelligence-powered TytoCare Home Smart Clinic, which allows patients to be examined by physicians remotely.

The platform uses connected devices, including an FDA-approved stethoscope, to deliver information to clinicians and, according to a recent study, was found to reduce the cost of care and emergency department visits.

QuantHealth, a start-up offering AI-enabled clinical trial design, raised $15 million in Series A funding in a round co-led by Bertelsmann Investments and Pitango HealthTech, with participation from existing investors Shoni Top Ventures and Nina Capital, taking the total raised by the company to $20 million.

The cash injection will be used by the Israeli firm to expand its business in the US and for product development, including investigating uses for its AI beyond clinical trials in new areas like regulatory support. QuantHealth claims that its technology can predict clinical trial outcomes with 86% accuracy.

Women's health start-up Visana Health has raised $10.1 million in seed funding that will be used to expand its virtual clinic platform, which promises to provide "menstruation through menopause" care, including contraception, hormone replacement, and therapies for endometriosis, fibroids, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and urinary tract infections.

The funding was co-led by Flare Capital Partners and Frist Cressey Ventures, with InHealth Ventures, Oxeon Partners, Pixel Perfect Ventures, Venture Investors, and others taking part. Visana says that, unlike other systems, its model is designed to accommodate "the 90% of women who aren't actively building a family."

Finally, Endear Health, which describes itself as a digital engagement platform specialising in value-based care for seniors, has pocketed $8 million in a first round led by Optum Ventures, Blue Cross of Idaho, and 8VC, adding to $4 million in seed funding raised last year.

The funding will be used to develop its software platform, which can be used by health systems to deliver tailored services to their older members via a smartphone, highlighting supplemental benefits they may be entitled to, giving advice on diet and other lifestyle measures to improve their health, and helping them find healthcare providers.