Eko Secures $65M to Develop Home Telehealth Solutions

As we proceed with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the use of digital health services will keep on increasing. Telehealth, a form of distanced care witnessed rapid growth and is here to stay even after the pandemic. Within the same regard, making easy access to digital healthcare services, Eko, the makers of the digitally connected stethoscope has secured new funds to expand its remote disease screening programs.

The firm was able to secure $65 million in a Series C venture capital round. The round was led by Highland Capital Partners and Questa Capital along with Artis Ventures, DigiTx Partners, NTTVC, 3M Ventures, and other investors.

Recommended AI News: SiteSeer Technologies Discusses COVID-19 Data Challenges

Eko will use the funds to expand the development of the use of the device in hospitals and clinics. It will fuel the launch of an artificial intelligence-powered monitoring platform for patients at home. The Duo stethoscope catches the heart’s sound and the indications in electrocardiograms. It is connected to an AI program to detect the signs of atrial fibrillation and heart murmurs.

“The explosion in demand for virtual cardiac and pulmonary care has driven Eko’s rapid expansion at thousands of hospitals and healthcare facilities, and we are excited for how this funding will accelerate the growth of our cardiopulmonary platform,” Eko co-founder and CEO Connor Landgraf said.

“The massive market need for telehealth is not going away,” said Rob Toews, principal at Highland Capital Partners. “Regulatory and reimbursement changes have been underway to support this growth. Eko is uniquely positioned in this space because their technology addresses crucial clinical needs that other companies cannot satisfy, and Eko’s platform is very easy to deploy and scale.”

The primary objective of Eko is that the AI assessments be incorporated into any physical evaluation conducted in a physician’s office and enable patients to escape clinical visits wherever possible.

Recommended AI News: First Hospital in Unique Digital Pathology Network in UK Now Live With Sectra’s Solution

Eko joined hands with 3M in October to create a digital variant of their ubiquitous Littmann stethoscope brand which has been used worldwide by health care professionals. The digital version, which has been built from a 3M cardiology model, aims to amplify subtle heart sounds up to 40 times, whilst simultaneously removing undesirable background noise.

Over the past decade, telehealth, a wider concept used to describe both medical care and health education provided remotely, has evolved rapidly as a sector. According to Global Market Insights, the industry’s market value in 2019 was about $45 billion and is expected to rise to more than $175 billion by 2026.

Recommended AI News: Kareo Introduces Kareo Patient Collect For Independent Healthcare Practices And Medical B****** Companies To Maximize Patient Collections