HealthMetrics will use the fresh funds to enhance its product offerings and expand into Southeast Asia
Malaysia-based healthtech startup HealthMetrics, which offers a digital platform to manage corporate healthcare benefits and wellness, has secured US$5 million in its Series A round of financing led by Japanese private equity firm ACA Investments, the startup announced in a press release today.
The new capital infusion will be utilized to expand HealthMetric’s regional footprint across Southeast Asia, enhance its product offerings, and improve cost-efficiency in corporate healthcare investments, the statement noted.
It added that the startup will use business models like telemedicine, digital wellness and preventive programs to expand its offerings.
Founded in 2015, HealthMetrics provides a cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform for businesses, enabling them to automate, simplify and manage healthcare benefits of employees. The company graduated out of the Google Launchpad Accelerator program, and its other backers include RHL Ventures, Spiral Ventures, and Cradle Seed Ventures.
“We founded HealthMetrics to ensure that companies are able to manage their employee health and wellness benefits with ease, in a more streamlined and cost-effective way,” said HealthMetrics CEO Alvin Yuan. “Our aim was and still is to introduce innovative digital processes to companies for higher efficiency and productivity.”
The HealthMetrics platform can be easily integrated with third-party HR Management Systems (HRMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and can help employers measure and improve their employee benefits strategy through real-time analytics, the statement noted.
The startup also has an in-house team of consultants that work with clients to help them develop employee healthcare strategies through planning and exclusive internal benchmarking data across industries, according to the statement.
Although HealthMetrics’ platform currently specializes in managing outpatient care benefits, the startup aims to extend its capabilities to include inpatient benefits in the future.
This would enable HealthMetrics to support companies that provide inpatient healthcare benefits, thereby optimizing the companies’ processes to manage more complex employee healthcare needs and increasing efficiency, the statement noted.
In its bid to bring down healthcare costs, HealthMetrics will build on its existing cost containment capabilities to help companies reduce hospitalization costs and to enable insurers to optimize the cost of inpatient procedures that increase the cost of insurance, the statement also said.
Further, according to the statement, existing insurance partners of HealthMetrics are already exploring deeper integration of its platform to leverage its data cost containment algorithm that can automate processes and increase efficiency for insurance providers.
Commenting on HealthMetrics’ capability to support both employers and insurers, Chief Investment Officer of ACA Tomohiro Fujita said, “We are impressed by how HealthMetrics makes the relationship among the corporates, employees and healthcare service providers more efficient using its online platform.”
“We also believe that HealthMetrics has a strong potential to widen the range of services as a B2B2C medical service platform and expand this footprint regionally,” he added.
Currently, the startup leverages its extensive user base of more than 180,000 corporate employees across over 1000 companies, to achieve economies of scale and negotiate favorable rates for healthcare services such as health screenings, vaccinations, the statement noted. These savings are subsequently passed on to its clients which helps drive down healthcare costs.
Moreover, since long-term healthcare is more expensive, HealthMetrics aims to help companies save employees’ healthcare costs through preventative programs that address emerging health difficulties among employees before they escalate, the statement said.
The program uses big data and artificial intelligence to provide personalized, multi-disciplinary pathways including physical and mental wellness, pandemic preparedness and medical surveillance programs, the statement added.
HealthMetrics’ clientele includes well-known industry names such as PwC, Star Media Group, KLK, Cosway, NSG Group, Samsung SDS, Fuji Xerox, Farm Fresh, Hilton, Hard Rock Hotel, and Razer Pay.
Amidst the global pandemic, HealthMetrics has introduced robust safety protocols, and privacy-conscious contact tracing systems to enable companies to provide comprehensive healthcare protection for their employees, the press release stated.
According to a report by The Journal of mHealth, the global pandemic has brought telehealth and digital health services to the forefront to meet the increasing need for remote diagnosis, consultation, and treatment. Therefore, telemedicine and digital health systems are expected to dominate the future.
Moreover, the report emphasized the need for preventive care as the basis of an effective healthcare system. Startups like HealthMetrics, therefore, can look forward to growth opportunities ahead of them.
Commenting of HealthMetrics’ future goals Yuan said, “As we look to expand across the region, we aim to provide companies and their employees with more well-rounded digital solutions which meet their current needs which have evolved further since we founded our company five years ago.”
“More than that, we will continue to assist companies in further optimizing their healthcare budgets while constantly providing them with avenues for cost reduction without compromising efficiency, speed and accuracy,” he added.
Header image courtesy of HealthMetrics
