Telemedicine Startups: TruClinic

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TruClinic is delivering on the promise that telemedicine can finally get to work in health care.

I've mentioned TruClinic before and my guess is that you'll be hearing more about them since they look like they're starting to gain traction with larger providers who need to become more efficient in delivering care without lowering their standards or running afoul of compliance issues. TruClinic lets them do that by taking many patient interactions onine.

TruClinic has just been awarded a $50,000 prize as a "health venture with business solutions to challenges faced by patients and healthcare systems".

Here's the press release.

SOURCE: Solutions from Our Country's Entrepreneurs today announced that $50,000 investments each were made to Rimidi Diabetes and TruClinic (TM) as the top two health ventures with business solutions to challenges faced by patients and healthcare systems.

SOURCE is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between The Hitachi Foundation, Village Capital, and Investors' Circle that connects entrepreneurs with the investment capital, mentoring, and support needed to grow their businesses. Twelve ventures participated in the three-month Village Capital/VentureWell business accelerator program. The ventures focus on a diverse range of health and healthcare challenges, many impacting low-wealth Americans. The program uses a peer-driven approach where the participants use business criteria to select two of their fellow companies for funding.

Rimidi's Diabetes+Me (TM) is a software solution focused on effectively and safely managing blood glucose, which allows patients and physicians to identify and close gaps in diabetes management. TruClinic (TM) provides a universal telemedicine platform for patients to set up secure video conferences with healthcare providers to avoid unnecessary in-person visits and their associated costs.

"We are thrilled to work with these two companies as they improve access to opportunity for underserved people worldwide through better health outcomes," said Ross Baird, executive director of Village Capital. "Diabetes is a disease that affects more than 29 million Americans, including an estimated 12.5 million who are low-income. Rimidi helps people with diabetes live a healthy lifestyle through an engaging user experience. TruClinic expands the reach of affordable medicine to low-income people who do not have access to quality healthcare in a way that revolutionizes the way that doctors treat patients."

The announcement of the two top ventures was made after the Village Capital/VentureWell Venture Forum where the entrepreneurs presented their business plans to a group of angel investors, venture capitalists, community leaders, potential partners, and customers. Rimidi Diabetes and TruClinic were then given the opportunity to present their business plans to another group of potential investors at an Investors' Circle Boston local network meeting.

"We heard an impressive set of pitches at the Venture Forum that demonstrated the impact these emerging innovations can and will have," said Phil Weilerstein, president of VentureWell. "Programs like ours are possible thanks to an outstanding group of partners including Village Capital, our investor partners, business mentors, and the early stage companies and entrepreneurs who participated in this training."

The ten other ventures that participated in the Village Capital/VentureWell program are: 

  • Benevolent Technologies for Health (BeTH) – Reduced cost and improved comfort of prostheses.
  • Dock Technologies – Disposable, visible reminders to help nurses improve time-based quality measures.
  • Doctible.com – Price shopping for health procedures.
  • EyeMitra – Mobile retinal imaging platform.
  • Healthy TXT – Automated follow-up messaging for patients and physicians.
  • Innoblative Designs – Treating early-stage breast cancer faster with radiation-alternative.
  • Kohana – Wearable compression-based breast pump for working moms.
  • PEURegen – A biodegradable, synthetic skin scaffold for deep skin wounds.
  • Semantic MD – Helping radiologists be more efficient and accurate via big data analytics.
  • Twiage – Fast, secure, accurate information about incoming ER patients.

The Village Capital/VentureWell Health program was made possible in partnership with MIT H@cking Medicine, with program support from the Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center, The Rockefeller Foundation, The Lemelson Foundation, and Global Impact Investing Rating System.

About SOURCE 
SOURCE is a partnership between The Hitachi Foundation, Investors' Circle, and Village Capital, with additional support from The Rockefeller Foundation and the Sorenson Global Impact Investing Center. SOURCE discovers entrepreneurs creating business solutions to social issues affecting low-wealth Americans and links them with the investment capital and mentoring needed to grow their businesses.

About The Hitachi Foundation 
The Hitachi Foundation is an independent, philanthropic organization that seeks to discover, demonstrate and expand business practices that both measurably improve economic opportunities for low-wealth individuals in the U.S. and enhance long term business value.

About Village Capital 
Village Capital uses the power of peer support to build companies that change the world. We recruit entrepreneurs who are solving major global problems in the areas of health, energy, education, financial inclusion, and agriculture. We operate business acceleration programs with a curriculum focused on improving ventures' ability to meet customer demand. Through a unique investment model, entrepreneurs themselves decide which innovations receive critical early-stage investment capital from Village Capital and partner investors. Village Capital teamed up with VentureWell to produce the Boston health program.

About Investors' Circle 
Investors' Circle (IC) is the largest early-stage impact investing network in the world. Together with hundreds of angels, venture capitalists, foundations and family offices, IC has propelled over $175 million into more than 275 enterprises dedicated to improving the environment, education, health, and community. A nonprofit organization, IC cultivates its impact investor network, provides opportunities for high-potential impact entrepreneurs to meet impact investors, and facilitates investment.

About VentureWell 
VentureWell was founded in 1995 as the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) and rebranded in 2014 to underscore its impact as an education network that cultivates revolutionary ideas and promising inventions. A not-for-profit organization reaching more than 200 universities, VentureWell is the leader in funding, training, coaching and early investment that brings student innovations to market. Inventions created by VentureWell grantees are reaching millions of people in more than 50 countries and helping to solve some of our greatest 21st century challenges. Visit VentureWell.org to learn how they inspire students, faculty and investors to transform game-changing ideas into solutions for people and the planet.