Hinge Health Announces $26M Series B

According to VentureBeat, Hinge Health, a digital health startup that develops software, hardware, and services to help companies manage employees' musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, has raised $26 million in a series B round of funding led by Insight Venture Partners, with participation from series A lead Atomico.

Founded in 2015, San Francisco-based Hinge Health is initially focused on getting companies the technology to combat chronic back and joint pain. Its product? A kit that contains two Hinge bands with motion sensors and a tablet with pre-installed Hinge Health software. It also includes a stand, carry case, and charging unit.

But Hinge Health doesn't just ship a bunch of boxes to employers. The company also delivers a coach-led program that addresses the underlying problems causing the MSK condition in the first place.

Chronic conditions
MSK disorders are among the top expenditures for employers' health plans, and the total cost of lower back pain alone is estimated to be around $100 billion each year in the U.S. Hinge Health claims it can drive costs down by half. It also now claims around 40 enterprises and "multiple" health plans as clients — according to its calculations, it has led to a 70 percent reduction in pain and 63 percent decrease in surgery.

Prior to now, Hinge Health had raised around $10 million — mostly via its Atomico-led series A round last July — and with another $26 million tranche in the bank the company plans to double down on its team and platform.

"Musculoskeletal pain wrecks lives, and costs billions," noted Hinge Health cofounder and CEO Daniel Perez. "But it doesn't have to be that way. One year ago as we closed our series A we were 18 people, now we're 70 and zooming toward 100. Our growing team has a unique opportunity to empower patients to alleviate their back and joint pain with a science-based care program. This requires substantial investment, partners committed to the long haul, and dedication to our high-quality approach that combines technology-enabled exercise therapy, behavioral health, and education."

Nabbing Insight Venture Partners as lead investor is notable, and it comes shortly after the New York-based VC firm closed its tenth fund at a whopping $6.3 billion. Insight has invested in more than 300 companies, including Twitter and Alibaba, and it has seen three IPOs from its portfolio companies in the past few months alone — DocuSign, Pluralsight, and Smartsheet.

"It's one thing to believe in yourself, but we're even more emboldened with Insight coming onboard," Perez added. "They've taken dozens of companies public and are already helping us rapidly scale our team to capture the market."

Employer-focused health care platforms are seemingly ripe for investment. San Mateo-based Lumity, for example, nabbed $19 million to bring data-driven recommendations to company health plans, while Vida Health raised $18 million to connect people who have chronic diseases to health coaches. Elsewhere, global consumer wearables juggernaut Fitbit pushed into employee health care and coaching this February through its acquisition of Twine Health.