There’s a data revolution going on in nearly every industry and the healthcare industry is no different. The efficient use of data in healthcare not only can mean the difference between life and death for a single patient but also for a large collective of the population if data is harnessed properly. However due to issues around privacy, compliance, and interoperability the experience of effectively using healthcare data to better outcomes has largely been fragmented and cumbersome. Particle Health is a health tech data infrastructure platform allows healthcare organizations to seamlessly access and synthesize data from various sources in an elegant solution. At its core, the company has built an API suite that allows users to access medical records for over 300M individuals in the US without complicated custom integrations each step of the way. Particle Health’s solutions are versatile across the digital health spectrum, powering the needs of startups and Fortune 50 companies alike across providers, payors, and pharma. In the past year, the company has grown ARR 450% and tripled the number of customers.
AlleyWatch caught up with Particle Health CEO and Cofounder Troy Bannister to learn more about how the business will power the next wave of healthcare innovation, the company’s strategic plans, latest round of funding, which brings the total funding raised to $39.3M, and much, much more…
Who were your investors and how much did you raise?
Series B, $25M led by Canvas Ventures, with participation from Menlo, Story, and Pruven Capital.
Tell us about the product or service that Particle Health offers.
Healthcare data is scattered across countless networks, making it incredibly difficult to unlock the info innovators need. It’s impossible for doctors, pharmacists, and other providers to offer the best care when they can’t get a complete picture of every patient. Meanwhile, healthcare companies need data that’s clean, complete, & dev-ready, while keeping up with constantly evolving regulations and interoperability standards.
Particle has built the foundational infrastructure for the next generation of healthcare solutions. We offer an API suite, a data transformation layer and portal + developer tools that enable access to aggregated, actionable patient data across the United States. With easy access to more complete medical records, innovators are free to create game-changing solutions that improve patient and provider experiences across the entire healthcare system.
Just as Plaid made financial information securely and digitally accessible to third parties, enabling an incredible range of business applications, Particle is enabling countless healthcare applications in a mission to improve health, lower costs and save lives.
What inspired the start of Particle Health?
When I worked at StartUp Health, I was in close contact with companies pioneering health technologies– entrepreneurs, pharmaceutical companies, payors, providers– and realized that none of them could easily access medical information. I saw startups either have to transfer data by fax or patient portal, or have to integrate directly into a hospital– a costly endeavor.
How is Particle Health different?
Particle prides its best-in-class customer solutions in numerous ways, like offering:
Breadth: We have developed the best technology with the highest hit rate to find patients around the US. Customers have benchmarked our metrics against competition.
Depth: We’re best in the market at finding large amounts of records on individuals means rich, longitudinal context.
Access: We enable demographic search– which means no portals, no passwords. Just search for a person’s records.
Quality: Our FHIR R4 API was first to market. Conversion of network data into parsed FHIR resources allows customers to grab just the data they’re looking for.
What market does Particle Health target and how big is it?
Particle targets Digital Health Companies of all sizes that provide direct patient care as well as supporting companies providing direct patient care. Our clients range from small startups to Fortune 50 companies.
We work with Provider Services, Payor Services and Pharma Services to enable them with access to 300M+ people’s medical records across national networks– an ecosystem that represents a $20B opportunity.
What’s your business model?
We offer a Tiered subscription model based on usage.
What are your post-COVID office plans??
Though headquartered in the Flatiron are of New York City, we offer a remote hybrid solution for our employees who are based across several United States. Once quarterly, we reimburse employee travel expenses to meet in person for a company-wide All Hands.
What was the funding process like?
The funding environment today is more difficult than what we’ve seen at Particle. There is more focus on supporting healthy businesses vs. costly growth.
What are the biggest challenges that you faced while raising capital?
Finding the right investor, more particularly person, is a difficult task. This is someone you’ll be working very closely with for many years and it’s incredibly important to make sure it will be a good working relationship.
What factors about your business led your investors to write the check?
There are a ton of items that could be discussed here, but I think Particle has the right combination of healthy business metrics (ARR growth, GM, NRR, etc.) plus a very bright future as it relates to regulations and market expansion.
What are the milestones you plan to achieve in the next six months?
Particle is launching new products that will hugely differentiate us.
What advice can you offer companies in New York that do not have a fresh injection of capital in the bank?
If you have new capital or not, the question everyone needs to answer is how to extend runway for 2+ years.
Where do you see the company going now over the near term?
We will be hiring some new folks across the team which always has massive impact on the business.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC?
I’ve lately been craving Lil Frankies lemon pasta…
