Hemi Invests in metaMe Health’s Seed Round
We have invested in metaMe Health’s seed round. metaMe Health develops FDA-cleared digital therapeutics for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) conditions.
Hemi’s mission is to support breakthroughs in biotechnology that will lead to cures for devastating diseases, unlock personalized medicine, and demystify the human genome. metaMe Health’s lead product is Regulora™, a fully digital behavioral intervention for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Regulora™ provides patients with an alternative to costly pharmaceuticals that often have adverse effects. We look forward to working closely with the team at metaMe Health, empowering them to shape the future of healthcare as they unlock even more alternative GI therapies.
Please see the press release below for more details.
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CHICAGO (August 1, 2019) — metaMe Health, a Chicago-based prescription digital therapeutics company committed to the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) conditions such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), announced the closing of $3.8 million in Seed Funding.
The round was led by LionBird Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in pre-scale digital health and business services companies with offices in Tel Aviv and Chicago. The round also includes participation from Hemi Ventures, as well as a mix of individual and private investors.
“We’re excited to support the metaMe Health team in its mission to make clinically proven non-drug therapy accessible to the millions of people suffering from IBS,” said Ed Michael, managing partner at LionBird. “We’re committed to investing in companies defying established norms within their industry, and we believe metaMe is doing that for IBS treatment.”
The new funds will be used to further develop metaMe Health’s lead product, Regulora. Regulora is the first digital implementation of a behaviorally-focused treatment that is intended to address the cognitive, behavioral and affective drivers of IBS. This is noteworthy because more than 30 million Americans, or about 10 percent of the US population, suffer from IBS. The company will initiate a large, randomized controlled trial to study the efficacy and safety of Regulora in patients with IBS. Funds will also be used for pre-commercialization efforts.
In the past six months, metaMe Health was selected a winner of the prestigious 2019 Sandoz Healthcare Access Challenge (Sandoz HACk). The worldwide competition honors digital tech entrepreneurs and innovators whose ideas have the potential to improve access to healthcare. In addition, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded the company a $243,000 grant to assess the acceptability and usability of an all-digital platform for the treatment of patients suffering with IBS.
“We’re thrilled that all of the efforts and hard work of the metaMe Health team are beginning to produce tangible results,” said metaMe Health CEO Tim Rudolphi. “Closing on this initial round of seed funding provides further validation of metaMe’s efforts in developing an all-digital platform for the treatment of IBS.”
To learn more about metaMe Health or to contact the company, visit www.metamehealth.com.
About metaMe Health
metaMe Health is committed to developing FDA-approved prescription digital therapeutics for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) conditions. The company was founded in 2016 by Chicago entrepreneur Daniel Bernstein, who has suffered from GI disorders including Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) and Crohn’s disease since childhood. metaMe is currently developing Regulora™, a fully digital behavioral intervention for the treatment of IBS, which impact more than 30 million Americans.
About LionBird
LionBird is a venture capital firm based in Tel Aviv with operations in Chicago. The firm, founded in 2012, primarily seeks to provide pre-scale capital and assistance to teams re-engineering the status quo. The firm has developed a successful investment strategy around pre-scale startups defying established norms, primarily within the healthcare and business services industries.
About Hemi Ventures
Hemi Ventures, based in the center of Silicon Valley, invests in emerging technology startups in healthcare, artificial intelligence applications and mobility sectors. We partner with entrepreneurs whose cutting-edge innovations unlock new frontiers for human potential.
‘Hemi’ (hēmi-) means ‘half’ in Greek. We serve as a complementary half to our founders. In addition to capital, we help founders establish pivotal relationships with thousands of industry partners and customers around the globe to build strong ecosystems that help them grow. For more information, visit www.hemi.vc.
