Digital health startup Grand Rounds raises $55 mln in funding

U.S. digital health startup Grand Rounds, which connects patients with medical experts mainly for a second opinion, said it had raised $55 million in new capital.

Grand Rounds' app and website connect patients in more than 120 countries with doctors, surgeons and other specialists in over 110 U.S. institutions.

The company, whose customers include Comcast Corp, Costco Wholesale Corp and Evernote, said on Thursday it would use the funds to expand its technology, care team and analytics platform.

The latest round of financing brings Grand Rounds' total funding to $106 million. Investors in the company include former Facebook Inc Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman and Rockefeller family's venture capital arm, Venrock.

Technology news website Tech Crunch reported in June that Grand Rounds was valued at around $750 million as part of a new financing round, citing sources.
Grand Rounds said it gets more than 80 percent of its revenue from companies looking to save costs on healthcare plans for employees.

"As a CEO of one of our customers recently told me, he is spending less on Grand Rounds then he is spending on coffee per employee for his company," Owen Tripp, co-founder and chief executive of Grand Rounds, told Reuters.

The San Francisco-based company helps its corporate customers save healthcare costs by connecting employees seeking medical opinion with relevant specialists using algorithms.

This process helps reduce patient complications and failed treatments, resulting in lower staff healthcare costs for companies.