PeerWell Announces $2.1 Million in Seed Funding to Pioneer Tech-Enabled PreHab for Surgery

PeerWell, whose PreHab mobile platform helps patients prepare both physically and mentally for surgery to recover faster, has raised $2.1 million in seed funding led by XSeed Capital.
 
Founded in 2015 by Manish Shah, Navin Gupta and Evan Minamoto, PeerWell has been focused on its flagship PreHab program for hip and knee replacement patients. PeerWell PreHab helps hip and knee replacement candidates optimize their health before surgery. Leveraging evidence-based health science, the PeerWell app delivers patients customized daily lessons that are proven to improve the results of surgery and speed-up recovery. Pairing each patient with real people undergoing a joint replacement at the same time, support and mentorship are at the heart of PeerWell.
 
“Today the average surgery costs the same as living with diabetes for 33 years,” Manish Shah, CEO of PeerWell. “The best way to reduce costs is to enable patients to be as strong, healthy and prepared as possible before their procedure. Unfortunately, today most patients are given a 50-page hard copy book of pre-op instructions which is an outdated and ineffective method for preparing patients. At PeerWell, we are establishing pre-surgical PreHab as the standard of care for all patients, providing an easy to use mobile app tool for surgery preparation. We designed PeerWell to make clinical workflow more efficient by automating everything a patient needs to get done before surgery. This is rare a win for hospitals, physicians and patients.”
 
PeerWell’s system houses hundreds of evidence-based patient modules that are personalized for patients by machine learning based program creation algorithms. Additionally, PeerWell allows patients to engage with others who are facing the same procedure and learn from patient mentors using its secure peer-to-peer communication technology.
 
The company will use the seed funding to enhance the platform by launching smartphone based tracking for key orthopedic outcomes including range-of-motion, sit/stand testing and six-minute walk tests. This round of funding will also allow PeerWell to continue its growth by accelerating the development of PreHab programs for other major procedures, establishing new distribution channels for its existing orthopedics business and investing in team growth at its San Francisco, Calif., headquarters.
 
“Healthcare is moving toward outcome accountability and associated payment mechanisms, nowhere faster than in the move to bundled payments for procedures like hip and knee replacement. There is consequently a large and growing opportunity for entrepreneurs who recognize the change and can deliver what is needed: improve patients’ ability to go straight home after surgery, reduce length of stay, drop readmissions, and limit overall complications,” said Michael Borrus, founding partner of XSeed Capital. “PeerWell is at the forefront of this emerging field. Their PreHab platform is unique in that it aligns and dramatically benefits all stakeholders: patients, doctors, and hospitals. That is why we are excited to invest in Manish and the PeerWell team.”
 
PeerWell is a healthcare technology company that helps patients prepare for and recover from major episodes of care with its PreHab mobile platform. Every year, 50 million people undergo major procedures like joint replacement surgery, coronary bypass surgery and chemotherapy. Using PeerWell, patients complete personalized four- to five-item daily checklists that help them prepare mentally, physically and environmentally.