Business

Abartys Health talks about starting-up in Puerto Rico after raising $1.45M in April

Abartys Health talks about the incentives of building a startup in Puerto Rico after raising $1.45 million last April.

Healthcare around the world is undergoing a digital overhaul. In Puerto Rico, Guaynabo-based Abartys Health has a global vision and is looking to change healthcare worldwide.

Abartys Health has quickly to become one of the premier global leaders in their space by allowing patients to access their healthcare data when they’re on-the-go via the web or smartphone.

Abartys’ mission is to solve the global healthcare crisis with smarter, faster care achieved by use of a unique, centralized data hub that allows medical record portability and universal patient identification.

In April the Guaynabo startup and winner of SXSW Release It 2017 raised $1.45 million in new capital, including $1 million from Parliament Capital, which followed on previous funding from Parallel18 — Puerto Rico’s top startup accelerator.

Lucas Arzola, Director of Operations at Parallel18, said in a statement at the time, “We are proud to see Abartys’ continuous growth and commitment with the healthcare tech industry and Puerto Rico’s startup ecosystem. We feel confident that Abartys’ founders and employees have the necessary skills to progress their company into a world class health care platform.”

Co-founded by CEO Dolmarie Mendez and COO Lauren Cascio, Abartys’ vision is to automate the healthcare market by modernizing the patient-provider data delivery system and standardizing the use of predictive machine learning.

Abartys Health Co-Founders Lauren Cascio and Dolmarie Mendez

Since entering the market two years ago, Abartys has developed InsureLynk for insurance companies, ProviderLynk for health care providers, and PatientLynk for health care patients.

Their technology platform provides an easy-to-access hub for healthcare data between patients, physicians, and health insurance providers.

Since inception the Company has earned numerous prestigious awards, including, but not limited to, SXSW Release It Winner (2017) , Parallel18’s Demo Day Investor’s Choice (2017), and Walmart’s Chicas Power Award (2018).

Abartys Health’s founders are also very active in the technology community in Puerto Rico, hiring local talent and mentoring other young entrepreneurs.

Mendez has been recognized by Caribbean Business as “Women Who Lead” and “40 under 40” while Cascio was recognized as Caribbean Business’ “40 under 40” list and was a finalist for Forbes’ “30 under 30” in healthcare.

The Sociable spoke with Cascio about the recent funding and what it’s like to start a company on the island of Puerto Rico.

For Cascio, going through the Parallel18 accelerator “was amazing,” and that the startup gained a lot of exposure and networking, and it was during Demo Day that they first connected with Parliament Capital, who would later lead this round of financing.

Cascio explains that apart from great tax incentives, Puerto Rico has a tremendous talent pool, and its business ecosystem is one that sees long-standing multinational corporations seeking out collaborations with young startups and their talent.

In Puerto Rico “You have US compliance and regulations, and geographically-speaking you are close to Latin America and the US, and people who live on the island want to stay on the island,” said Cascio.

The Abartys co-founder went on to explain that the business community in Puerto Rico is one that encourages collaboration, and that there are a lot of manufacturers on the island that are looking for partners.

“Everyone is cheering for each other,” she says, adding, “it’s very easy to use your network here.”

She explained that in Puerto Rico, there are some big companies with over a hundred years of corporate governance, and that “multinationals prefer working with startups,” as “they seek young, agile companies.”

In an interview with Forbes, the co-founders explained that “while most tech solutions out today are closed systems, they envision a future in which this industry is much more transparent– and that that is the key to better health. ‘Healthcare technology should be able to transport data across networks, payers, pharmacies, and hospitals so that doctors can make informed decisions about their patients’ health,’ Cascio says.”

Abartys Health has created a system that allows seamless data flow and communication between insurers, doctors, and patients – working to reduce the $750B annual loss in the US healthcare market.

The company is positioned to be a major player in the insurance technology revolution and provides service to global health insurers, pharmaceutical companies, and large employers. Beyond the company’s current operations, Abartys is aggressively exploring the future of technology in healthcare.

Long considered an antiquated industry resistant to change, healthcare is beginning to feel the effects of developments in artificial intelligence and data accessibility. Abartys is pushing the envelope on how population data is managed and utilized in the insurance industry.

The company believes the end result will be a lower cost of care, patients with full access to their own medical records, and irreversible movement towards transparency and efficiency in an industry in dire need of technological progress.

Tim Hinchliffe

The Sociable editor Tim Hinchliffe covers tech and society, with perspectives on public and private policies proposed by governments, unelected globalists, think tanks, big tech companies, defense departments, and intelligence agencies. Previously, Tim was a reporter for the Ghanaian Chronicle in West Africa and an editor at Colombia Reports in South America. These days, he is only responsible for articles he writes and publishes in his own name. tim@sociable.co