The rise of wearable technology has made it possible to constantly track everything from your blood pressure and heart rate to glucose levels and physical activity, contributing to a growing ocean of healthcare data generated annually. According to an earlier report from healthcare marketing firm Publicis Health, this data ocean was predicted to swell to 2,314 exabytes (1 exabyte = 1 billion gigabytes) in 2020.
The problem, though, is harnessing this data for meaningful use. Much of it remains unstructured and fragmented, rendering it unusable for researchers and businesses looking to innovate healthcare. For instance, the World Economic Forum recently reported that, of the 50 petabytes (1 petabyte = 1 million gigabytes) of data hospitals produce each year, 97% of that goes unused.
San Mateo, California-based Human API is a platform that is normalizing and structuring health data from over 28,000 disparate sources such as hospitals, wearable devices, pharmacies, and labs, and is making it accessible – with each patient’s permission – to trusted physicians, startups, enterprises, and insurers.
By giving patients who create the health data the easiest way to connect and share it with companies and institutions they trust, Human API aims to radically accelerate the pace of health innovation globally.
This week, the company announced a Series C investment round of $20 million. The round includes participation from Samsung Ventures, CNO Financial Group, Allianz Life Ventures, and Moneta VC, as well as from existing investors BlueRun Ventures, SCOR Life and Health Ventures, and Guardian Life Insurance Company.
Andrei Pop, CEO, Human API. Image Credit: LinkedIn
According to a company statement, the round positions Human API to build on its significant momentum in industries including insurance, pharma and digital health, and to advance its mission to make true consumer-controlled health data liquidity a reality across a spectrum of markets.
“With this new capital we’re evolving Human API into a digital transformation platform unifying more data from more sources,” said Andrei Pop, Founder and CEO of Human API. “We’re speeding up growth in the insurance, clinical trials, and health plans markets, as well as new use cases like COVID-19 screening.”
The company, which has been around since 2013, has established strong relationships with Fortune 500 financial services companies like Prudential and John Hancock as well as assisting digital health scale-ups such as Omada Health and Thrive Global to power digital health and wellness solutions.
“Human API’s ‘one stop shop’ of health data helps enterprises realize new possibilities in lasting consumer engagement models,” said Paolo DeMartin, CEO of SCOR Global Life, a Human API investor and partner. “They’re truly moving the industry into a new era of innovation.”
The timing of Human API’s funding round comes at an exciting moment in the healthcare space. At the beginning of October, the U.S. 21st Century Cures Act came into effect, which is designed to promote patient access to their electronic health information, support provider needs, advance innovation, and address industry-wide information blocking practices.
Paolo DeMartin, CEO, SCOR Global Life. Image Credit: LinkedIn
A Pew Research study suggests that the majority of Americans support efforts to improve how their medical information is shared and demand greater access to their own health data.
According to the founders, Human API aims to help everyday citizens leverage the increased control of their healthcare data for good use.
More than just solving the data portability issue for researchers and startups which can use the data for the greater good of our society, the platform offers users various options to make their data actionable, such as getting better insurance deals faster, taking part in medical tests and clinical trials for new treatments and participating in wellness programs.
Disclosure: This article mentions a client of an Espacio portfolio company.
