Patient Engagement Platform Luma Health Raises $130M

Digital Healthcare

The patient engagement platform Luma Health has raised $130 million in a Series C, bringing the San Francisco company’s total funding to $160 million.

“The announcement follows 2x growth year over year since Luma Health’s founding in 2015 and nearly 900% three-year growth, garnering recognition as one of the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Companies,” the company said in a news release on Tuesday (Nov. 23). “Luma Health is on track to connect nearly a quarter of all Americans to care in 2022 and scale internationally.”

Luma Health says the funding will let it develop its platform to meet the digital transformation needs of hospitals and health systems, and to continue its mission of bringing patients equitable access to care.

“In the tight-knit community of enterprise healthcare, word of Luma Health has gotten out,” said Adnan Iqbal, Luma Health’s co-founder and CEO. “With this investment, we will continue to meet the demands of leading healthcare delivery systems nationwide and deliver on our promise to our customers: helping transform the complexities of healthcare into convenient, seamless experiences for their patients.”

Luma Health’s platform is used by more than 550 health systems, hospitals, federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and clinic networks around the country. It integrates with more than 80 electronic health records and vendors throughout the healthcare IT stack, centralizing and automating patient scheduling and communications, according to the company.

“Luma Health is our platform to manage patient scheduling and communication at scale,” said Adam Weber, director of operations for Cook County Health. “Serving over five million patients throughout the Chicagoland area means we need a partner that can handle whatever we throw their way. Luma Health always delivers — whether that’s their deep scheduling integrating into Cerner, scalable vaccine operations, patient outreach or flexible messaging capabilities.”

Read more: Mental Health Marketplace MiResources Raises $3M

This year has seen a number of health technology platforms land funding. For example, there’s MiResources, another San Francisco company, which raised $3 million in seed funding in August for its service, which provides an “accessible and user-friendly” platform for mental health care referrals.

Around the same time, two other platforms launched following seed rounds: Soda Health, which aims to help patients get reimbursed for items not traditionally covered by medical claims, and MinSalud, a platform personalized for Hispanic patients.

Musk Gains Antitrust Watchdog Support in OpenAI Battle

Elon Musk has reportedly gained government support in his legal battle against OpenAI.

While not offering an opinion in the case, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) pointed to legal doctrines supporting Musk’s argument that OpenAI and partner/patron Microsoft engaged in anticompetitive behavior, Reuters reported Friday (Jan. 10).

Musk, one of OpenAI’s co-founders, is suing to prevent the startup’s switch to a public company, and also maintains that OpenAI and Microsoft — also a defendant — colluded to hinder competition in the artificial intelligence (AI) space. Musk heads the AI firm xAI.

An OpenAI spokesperson pointed Reuters to the argument the company has made before: that Musk’s suit is without evidence and is essentially harassment.

Marc Toberoff, Musk’s attorney, said, “the participation of the DOJ and FTC is a sign of how seriously regulators take OpenAI and Microsoft’s misconduct.”

The FTC has been examining AI partnerships, including the one between OpenAI and Microsoft, while also probing anticompetitive conduct by Microsoft and investigating whether OpenAI violated consumer protection laws.

Musk alleges OpenAI breached antitrust law by forcing investors to agree not to invest in rival AI companies, and by sharing board members with Microsoft.

OpenAI contends the board member claims are moot, as Microsoft board member Reid Hoffman, who was on OpenAI’s board, and Microsoft executive Deannah Templeton, who had an observer seat, are no longer connected with it.

All the same, those directors could still have sensitive competitive information, the FTC and DOJ argued in the recent court filing, saying that board members who only have observer status are not exempt from the law.

Another of Musk’s claims is that OpenAI fomented a group investor boycott against its rivals. These claims hold water even when the organizer of the boycott is not a member, the FTC and DOJ argued.

In other AI news, PYMNTS took a closer look at the sector last week in the wake of Anthropic’s targeted $60 billion valuation.

“From automating routine tasks to enhancing decision-making through predictive analytics, the demand for enterprise AI solutions is skyrocketing,” that report said. 

“However, corporate buyers are discerning, prioritizing factors such as integration capabilities, data security, and the ability to customize models to fit their unique needs. These priorities are shaping the AI market.”

At a time when tech stacks are becoming more complex, seamless integration is a key priority for enterprise buyers, that report added. Research by PYMNTS Intelligence has shown that 75% of CFOs plan to increase their AI investment.