Digital health company Jiff has raised an additional $18 million in Series B funding, the company announced this morning. The Palo Alto-based startup wants to make it easier for businesses to reward their employees who participate in digital health programs by providing a software platform that can gather data from across a wide spectrum of wearable devices, like Fitbits, Jawbones, Misfit Shines and more, as well as mobile fitness-tracking apps.
The round was led by Venrock, and included participation from Aberdare Ventures and Aeris Capital. The new funds will be used to expand the company’s sales and marketing teams, grow Jiff’s network of sales and distribution partners, and build out its network of digital health partners across categories, the company says.
To date, the company has raised $25.8 million.
Today, there are over 40,000 mobile health apps and devices available to consumers, and the digital fitness device market reached $330 million in 2013. So if the future of health and medicine is personalized, then Jiff’s move to support a wider range of these types of devices and apps, allowing employees to simply connect with those they actually use, is a smart one.
Many employers today provide employees with basic health-tracking incentives – like giving out pedometers to track your steps, and providing rewards for meeting certain goals. But Jiff’s HIPAA-compliant platform allows employers to ditch the costs associated with buying devices for employees, and instead offer one or more of Jiff’s digital health applications for web, iOS or Android at around $1-$2 per employee per month.
The apps, which the employers can brand and theme for themselves, let employees participate in social challenges and contests, invite spouses and friends to join, and let them earn rewards for making healthy choices, reach personalized health goals, and more. Employers can curate which devices, apps and services their version of Jiff’s program will support, and can then launch HR-driven company-wide campaigns to keep employees engaged.
Jiff is one of many new companies which are “hacking healthcare” – meaning, they’re taking advantage of the new trend where consumers are managing their own health and health-related data. This change is also being encouraged now by mobile platform makers, Apple (with HealthKit) and Google (with Google Fit), too, which will push these wearable devices and apps further into the mainstream going forward.