The startup will expand in Canada and the UK while laying foundations in the US, Europe and the Middle East.
Toronto-based genomic healthcare software startup PhenoTips received C$2 million in seed funding to support its international expansion plans.
In an exclusive interview with BetaKit, PhenoTips co-founder and CEO Orion Bousquet said the medical technology company plans to use the funding to expand its presence in Canada and the United Kingdom (UK). The firm will also be preparing to expand in the United States before moving into other countries in Europe and the Middle East.
“We want to move faster, and that's really hard in healthcare, and that's really hard for first-time founders.”
Orion bushes,
PhenoTips
Bousquet and the PhenoTips team remain optimistic about the potential of genetics and genome sequencing “to transform medicine and improve the quality of healthcare around the world.”
The CEO said the combination of falling costs and increasing disease detection is evidence that the time has come for health systems to embrace genomics. He said he sees opportunities for PhenoTips to provide the “genomic medical record” and “gap” needed to achieve this breakthrough.
PhenoTips' all-seed funding, which closed in July, was led by existing backer GreenSky Ventures with support from new investor, the Ontario Innovation Centre. Bousquet said his estimate is equal to PhenoTips' original estimate. $2.5 million seed round in 2021, but did not reveal how the latest round was valued at the startup, which has raised $4.5 million to date.
“We want to move faster, and that's really hard in healthcare, and that's really hard for first-time founders,” Bousquet said. “This money gives us … it gives us some time and breathing room, it gives us the ability to look at the longer term and it gives us senior management to help us make the right choices.”
PhenoTips was founded in 2014 as a result of a research project between the University of Toronto and SickKids Hospital. formerly known as Gene42sells software that helps healthcare providers and researchers collect and manage genetics-related patient data. The PhenoTips solution allows physicians to easily record, standardize and share data that helps assess patients' risk for inherited diseases.
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Bousquet said that since the seed round, PhenoTips has grown to one million patients in its system, tripled its annual recurring revenue, added 20 employees and acquired 30 institutional clients in Canada, the UK and Europe. These include hospitals, research programs, and genomics service providers.
GreenSky managing partner Marian Hoffmann told BetaKit that GreenSky has already demonstrated a strong product market position in both the UK and Canada.
Given its leadership in the adoption of genomic medicine at scale, the UK has become a focus for PhenoTips and now accounts for the majority of the startup's business. Bousquet said Britain's health care system has similarities to Canada's and said coordination has made it easier to achieve consistency on large, ambitious projects.
Given that, and the ongoing “unrest and uncertainty” in the US, the CEO expects more Canadian healthcare startups to follow suit and head across the Atlantic before turning their attention south of the border.
“The timing of the PhenoTips solution is opportune because the clinical implementation of genomic health records continues to expand, partly due to the increasing digitization of the healthcare system and partly due to government funding,” Hoffmann said. He cited two examples of this, including the UK government's push to integrate genomics into routine healthcare through the Single Genomic Record, and large electronic health records providers increasingly expanding their genomics capabilities. possibilities.
PhenoTips is also carefully working to integrate artificial intelligence into its platform. The startup's goal is to support medical application coding and data conversion as it seeks to free up more time for genetic counselors. Bousquet said these workers are often burdened with administrative and paperwork burdens and will have more time to focus on counseling.
Image courtesy of PhenoTips.
