New investment builds on recent acquisition of PatientBond to springboard company to meet surging demand for market-leading patient engagement and access solutions.
Patient engagement and access platform Upfront today announced an additional $10.5 million in funding to accelerate its growth and product development initiatives. The Series C financing was co-led by Baird Capital, Echo Health Ventures and First Trust Capital Partners, with additional participation from existing investors including LRVHealth, Hyde Park Venture Partners and Nashville Capital Network.
As market demand surges for patient engagement solutions, the investment bolsters Upfront’s trajectory of market leadership through accelerated product innovation. Today’s announcement included the rollout of significant advancements to the platform including deeper integrations, proprietary psychographic-driven content as well as enhanced microsite functionality and user experience.
This comes on the heels of Upfront’s strategic acquisition of PatientBond. Since Upfront raised its $11.5 million Series B funding round in November 2020, the company has driven over 40 million digital engagements with patients through its market-leading digital platform at more than 4,000 healthcare locations. The sustained organic growth of the business stands out given recent trends in digital health funding.
“We are very excited to increase our investment in Upfront and partner with the company’s leadership team as they continue to drive innovation and enhanced patient experience for their client partners,” said Jim Pavlik, Partner with Baird Capital. “Given Upfront’s deep healthcare expertise, strong product differentiation, and proven approach, we believe the company is extremely well-positioned to capture increased market share and expand its positive impact on patient access and care delivery over the coming years.”
Upfront CEO and co-founder Ben Albert explains what differentiates Upfront from competitors is its ability to deliver a next-generation patient engagement and access within a single enterprise platform. “Patients will not only receive necessary care, but also be guided between visits while building lasting relationships with their health system,” he said. “Upfront’s next-generation platform with omnichannel personalization has the power to transform health care and improve outcomes.”
“Other digital health players in this space paint a broad brush around patient engagement while Upfront’s deep health care expertise combined with its integration capabilities, advanced analytics and psychographics implementation means no one can compete,” said Echo Health Ventures CEO Rob Coppedge. “Upfront’s unique digital infrastructure and ability to intelligently support an organization’s operational and strategic business goals will help both Upfront and its provider partners to pursue their full potential.”
Founded in 2015, Upfront’s platform ensures every patient is navigated to necessary care, enabling provider organizations to adopt a single solution to acquire and keep their patients. Upfront’s technology influences positive patient behaviors — driving visit adherence, care gap closure, referral navigation, payment completion, reduced readmissions and more.
“We were instantly drawn to Upfront’s mission to help health systems lift the burdens of navigating patients to the right care,” said First Trust Capital Partners Managing Director Jon Phillips. “The company’s proven expertise in understanding healthcare consumers differentiates them in the market. How Upfront moves beyond ‘treating’ patients to curating the patient experience across the care journey is just one reason we’re so confident. While other digital health startups are struggling to gain traction and investment, Upfront is quickly gaining ground.”
With its continued success, Upfront is experiencing dynamic growth across the company. In addition to expanding the company’s board of directors, Upfront is recruiting top talent from diverse backgrounds to round out its best-in-class healthcare technology team. The company was named a Top 50 Employer in Modern Healthcare’s “Best Places to Work” program in 2021 and a finalist in Crain’s Best Places to Work 2022.
