Aventura, a leader in healthcare workflow optimization software solutions, today announced that it raised a $14 million Series C financing round, which was oversubscribed, co-led by Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE) and Merck Global Health Innovation Fund (Merck GHI). Existing investors Excel Venture Management, HLM Venture Partners, and Memorial Care Innovation Fund also participated in the round. Aventura will use proceeds from the funding to expand sales and marketing, business development, and customer support, as well as accelerate product development.
Hospitals have invested heavily in electronic health records ('EHR'), driven largely by $36 billion in federal incentives. But, the clinical and economic benefits derived from EHRs are predicated on clinicians actually using the systems. Despite significant investments in health information systems, efficiency, data security, and workflow optimization, challenges around day-to-day access to patient data persist. The hunting-and-pecking amongst various applications in order to compile a complete view of the patient's chart requires further investment to leverage the EMR spend. U.S.-based hospitals are estimated to spend $1.3 billion to optimize workflow for patient data access, and fewer than half of U.S. hospitals have implemented an optimization solution.
Through a patented process it calls awareness computing, Aventura's workflow optimization platform delivers awareness of a user's identity and role, their location within a facility, what device they are working on, and what patient they are treating. Traditionally, the approach to address workflow obstacles has involved utilizing identity and access management technologies such as Single Sign-On (SSO) for secure and fast access to applications. Whereas SSO technology authorizes a user to access a specific application, the beauty of awareness computing is that it builds upon SSO and gets the user to the exact data and functionality that they want.
'Awareness computing is the next generation in workflow optimization as it combines the security and speed benefits of SSO with deep intelligence to deliver clinical and business awareness to the point of care,' said John Gobron, CEO of Aventura. 'This round of funding along with the addition of Safeguard and Merck as strategic investors, will allow us to accelerate the rate at which we can apply innovation to address the clinical, business, and regulatory needs of healthcare providers.'
'With innovative technology and a strong customer-centric leadership team, Aventura is well-positioned for rapid growth in an attractive market with favorable business and regulatory drivers for workflow optimization,' said Managing Director, Healthcare at Safeguard, Al Wiegman, who will be joining Aventura's board of directors. 'Providers are facing increased pressure to improve efficiency and quality of care. Aventura's product portfolio is uniquely positioned to enable providers to better leverage EMR and patient data to accomplish this. We are excited to partner again with Merck GHIF, as well as existing syndicate partners, to support Aventura to improve the healthcare experience for providers and patients alike.'
About Aventura
Aventura is the leading provider of awareness computing for the healthcare industry. For decades, clinicians have had to adapt their workflow to the limitations of computers; with Aventura, computers can now adapt to how clinicians work. Through its patented technology, Aventura delivers awareness of a user's identity and role, their location within a facility, what device they are working on, and what patient they are treating. Based on this awareness, Aventura immediately delivers a virtual desktop and dynamically provisions the applications and exact screens a user needs to care for that particular patient, eliminating wasteful clicks and keystrokes. As a result, Aventura helps customers achieve their important initiatives in the areas of EHR adoption and Meaningful Use requirements, PHI security, mobility, and cost containment. Aventura is headquartered in Denver with offices in Marlborough, MA. Visit http://www.aventurahq.com; follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook; or call 888-484-4643 to learn more.
About Safeguard Scientifics
Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. (NYSE:SFE) has a distinguished track record of fostering innovation and building market leaders. For six decades, Safeguard has been providing growth capital and operational support to entrepreneurs across an evolving spectrum of industries. Today, Safeguard is focused specifically on two sectors-healthcare and technology. Recent successful exits include Alverix (acquired by Becton, Dickinson for $40 million); Crescendo Bioscience (acquired by Myriad Genetics for $270 million); NuPathe (acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries for $144 million); and ThingWorx (acquired by PTC for initial proceeds of $112 million). For more information, please visit http://www.safeguard.com or Follow Us on Twitter @safeguard.
About Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, LLC
Merck Global Health Innovation Fund, LLC (GHIF) invests in emerging companies that deliver breakthrough health care solutions, which advance Merck's mission to discover, develop and provide innovative products and services that save and improve lives. For more information, visit http://www.merck.com/ghi.