A couple of months ago, I hosted a roundtable in the Silicon Valley between Venture Capitalists and senior executives of our Health Solutions Group. At this roundtable, the Health Solutions group unveiled to investors for the first time their partnership strategy around HealthVault - Microsoft's consumer Health store platform.
As I mentioned in one of my previous blogs, Microsoft is expecting ISVs to build innovative applications on top of this data platform to empower consumers to be more proactive about their own healthcare.
One such company I have recently came across is BiancaMed, a new startup out of Dublin, Ireland with a focus on health and wellness monitoring in the home. BiancaMed's particular focus in the analysis and measurement of sleep and breathing. The company has developed a unique patented non contact bio-motion sensor technology (LifeSense).
This sensor is coupled with cell-phone and web technology to provide a complete technology platform (LifeMinder) for automated remote monitoring of sleep, breathing and related markers of health such as activity, exercise, blood pressure, blood glucose and weight. They have already launched an FDA-approved home sleep apnea screening product (LifeScreen Apnea) in partnership with Spacelabs Healthcare. In addition, the initial products and services offered by the company are
- A consumer-level baby monitor which reassure parents that their baby is breathing
- A turnkey solution for pharmaceutical companies to provide automated sleep monitoring in clinical trials
The product pipeline includes products to address home sleep apnea diagnostic testing, chronic disease management of heart failure and COPD, and consumer-oriented connected wellness. All of their connected health platforms are enabled by using a cell-phone based platform (Java midlets) which collects and receives data from a number of personal health devices (SleepMinder, blood pressure, glucose, weight, oximetry, etc.)
This company is exactly the kind of company Microsoft will like to build on top of HealthVault. I will be working with CEO Conor Heneghan over the coming months to accelerate the adoption of Microsoft based technologies and HealthVault.
The company is a privately held limited company. It raised a Series A investment round in October 2006 of €2.5 million, funded by DFJ ePLanetVentures and ResMed. Check out more info about the company at http://www.biancamed.com
